(14-10-15) Seeing through the dark: New insights into the immune regulatory functions of vitamin A.

Brown CC1, Noelle RJ2.
Author information
1Division of Transplantation Immunology and Mucosal Biology, Kings College London, United Kingdom.
2Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Norris Cotton Cancer Center, Lebanon, NH, USA.
Abstract
The importance of vitamin A for host defense is undeniable and the study of its mechanisms is paramount. Of the estimated 250 million preschool children who are vitamin A-deficient (VAD), 10% will die from their increased susceptibility to infectious disease. Vitamin A supplementation was established in the 1980s as one of the most successful interventions in the developing world. Understanding how vitamin A controls immunity will help curb the mortality and morbidity associated with vitamin A deficiency and exploit the immune-enhancing capacity of vitamin A to heighten host resistance to infectious disease. The discoveries that retinoic acid (RA) imprints the homing of leukocytes to the gut and enhances the induction of regulatory T cells, highlighted a potential role for RA in mucosal tolerance. However, more recently emerging data tell of a more profound systemic impact of RA on leukocyte function and commitment. In animal models using genetic manipulation of RA signaling, we learned when and how RA controls T cell fate. Here, we review the role for RA as a critical checkpoint regulator in the differentiation of CD4(+) T cells within the immune system.

Source: Eur J Immunol. 2015 May;45(5):1287-95. doi: 10.1002/eji.201344398.

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