PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Eya Tangour AU - Haifa Maalmi AU - Jamel Ammar AU - Anissa Berraies AU - Hanadi Abid AU - Kamel Hamzaoui AU - Sadok Yaalaoui AU - Agnes Hamzaoui TI - Vitamin D in Tunisian young asthmatics DP - 2011 Sep 01 TA - European Respiratory Journal PG - p1143 VI - 38 IP - Suppl 55 4099 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p1143.short 4100 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p1143.full SO - Eur Respir J2011 Sep 01; 38 AB - Vitamin D deficiency has been described in numerous chronic inflammatory diseases.We sought to investigate vitamin D in children with asthma and its interaction with disease variables and inflammatory responses.Methods: Thirty-nine children with asthma in a stable state were enrolled. Samples were obtained in summer. Lung function was measured on the same day. Serum concentrations of vitamin D were assayed with a radioimmunoassay kit, 30 healthy children acted as controls. CD4+ blood lymphocytes were investigated for cytokines expression (IFNg, IL4, IL10, IL17) by intracytoplasmic cytokines expression quantified by cytofluorometry. CD4+ CD25+FoxP3+ cells were identified as regulatory T cells.Only 15% of our patients had a sufficient serum 25(OH) D ((33.83 + 3.31 ng/ml). Deficient values were observed in 43% of asthmatic patients (14.40 + 3.30; P = 0.0001). A positive correlation was found between FVC percent predicted and vitamin D (r = 0.35; P = 0.027). A negative correlation was observed between serum IL-17 and vitamin D (r = - 0.617; P = 0.001). Th1/Th2 ratios of controls were higher (27.26 + 14.35%) than those of patients (13.48 + 8.55%; P = 0.0001). In asthma, Th1/Th2 ratio was correlated with vitamin D (r= 0.68; P = 0.0001). Tr1/Th17 ratio was significantly decreased in asthmatic children. A positive correlation was observed between vitamin D and IL-10+ cells (r = 0.428; P = 0.008). A correlation was observed between the percentage of CD25+FoxP3+ Treg cells and vitamin D values in asthmatics (r = 0.368)Conclusions: Asthma was associated with lower serum Vitamin D levels despite high levels of sun exposure. Our findings suggest that vitamin D is an important promoter of T cell regulation in vivo in asthma patients.