Source

Division of Liver Diseases, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.

Abstract

Vitamin D is increasingly becoming recognized as an important physiological regulator with pleiotropic functions outside of its classical role in skeletal homeostasis. A growing body of clinical evidence highlights the prevalence and risks of vitamin D deficiency in patients suffering from chronic hepatitis C infection, and vitamin D supplementation has been proposed as an adjunct to current standards of care. This review considers the experimental evidence for the anti-inflammatory, anti-fibrotic and anti-viral effects of vitamin D, and discusses the therapeutic potential of vitamin D supplementation to protect against liver disease progression and improve responses to treatment.