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Vitamin D as a Biomarker in the Standardization Era: A...
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Vitamin D as a Biomarker in the Standardization Era: A Clinical Point of View

A special issue of Diagnostics (ISSN 2075-4418). This special issue belongs to the section "Pathology and Molecular Diagnostics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2025 | Viewed by 6909

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Giulia Bivona

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Biomedicine, Neurosciences and Advanced Diagnostics, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
Interests: laboratory medicine; vitamin D; biomarkers; neurodegeneration
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Beyond bone metabolism, vitamin D plays a part in the modulation of immune response and brain development and function in adulthood. Vitamin D circulating levels have attracted attention in many diseases other than skeletal ones worldwide. Serum total 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) is the best biomarker to assess vitamin D status. Low 25(OH)D circulating levels have been studied in patients affected by infectious, autoimmune, neurological, and cardiovascular diseases, and an association between Vitamin D status and the onset and progression of autoimmune and neurological diseases has been reported. However, the role of Vitamin D as a serum biomarker or a risk factor in these diseases has not been proved, mainly due to the standardization issue concerning 25(OH)D measurement. In the past, studies on Vitamin D presented 25(OH)D results without reporting the use of internationally recognized methods and certified materials. The lack of standardized measurement of serum 25(OH)D hampered the development of consensus guidelines on 25(OH)D levels defining vitamin D insufficiency. Since the majority of the studies on Vitamin D reported unstandardized data, the available literature is not useful to define whether there is a role for Vitamin D in inflammatory-based diseases, and meta-analyses are of little use. Pooling research data reporting standardized 25(OH)D measurement would allow useful meta-analyses and represents the primary tool to understand the role of Vitamin D in such a disease. Further, reaching a consensus on vitamin D sufficiency, insufficiency, and deficiency could help to establish 25(OH)D cut-offs to be used in non-skeletal disorders.

The objective of this Special Issue is to collect standardized results of vitamin D serum levels in inflammatory-based diseases, including autoimmune, infectious, and neurological disorders. Articles reporting the use of internationally recognized reference procedures and materials are encouraged, and reviews/meta-analysis pooling standardized results will also be appreciated.

Dr. Giulia Bivona
Guest Editor

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • vitamin D
  • 25(OH)D
  • biomarker
  • immune response
  • standardization

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 1000 KiB  
Article
Association of Vitamin D Deficiency and Insufficiency with Pathology in Hospitalized Patients
by Sandica Bucurica, Ioana Prodan, Mihaela Pavalean, Corina Taubner, Ana Bucurica, Calin Socol, Roxana Calin, Florentina Ionita-Radu and Mariana Jinga
Diagnostics 2023, 13(5), 998; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13050998 - 6 Mar 2023
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3286
Abstract
Vitamin D deficiency is one of the most common medical conditions, with approximately one billion people having low vitamin D levels. Vitamin D is associated with a pleiotropic effect (immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory and antiviral), which can be essential for a better immune response. The [...] Read more.
Vitamin D deficiency is one of the most common medical conditions, with approximately one billion people having low vitamin D levels. Vitamin D is associated with a pleiotropic effect (immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory and antiviral), which can be essential for a better immune response. The aim of this research was to evaluate the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency in hospitalized patients focusing on demographic parameters as well as assessing the possibility of its associations with different comorbidities. Of 11,182 Romanian patients evaluated in the study over 2 years, 28.83% had vitamin D deficiency, 32.11% insufficiency and 39.05% had optimal vitamin D levels. The vitamin D deficiency was associated with cardiovascular disorders, malignancies, dysmetabolic disorders and SARS-CoV2 infection, older age and the male sex. Vitamin D deficiency was prevalent and showed pathology association, while insufficiency of vitamin D (20–30 ng/mL) had lower statistical relevance and represents a grey zone in vitamin D status. Guidelines and recommendations are necessary for homogeneity of the monitoring and management of inadequately vitamin D status in the risk categories. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vitamin D as a Biomarker in the Standardization Era: A Clinical Point of View)
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13 pages, 1528 KiB  
Article
Vitamin D Status Assessment: Lack of Correlation between Serum and Hair 25-Hydroxycholecalciferol Levels in Healthy Young Adults
by Zsolt Gáll, Brigitta Csukor, Melinda Urkon, Lénárd Farczádi and Melinda Kolcsár
Diagnostics 2022, 12(5), 1229; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics12051229 - 14 May 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2415
Abstract
Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to numerous health problems, including those resulting from disturbed calcium-phosphorus homeostasis, and neuropsychiatric and autoimmune disorders. Nearly one-third of the global population has suboptimal levels of vitamin D, according to epidemiological data. Vitamin D status is usually [...] Read more.
Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to numerous health problems, including those resulting from disturbed calcium-phosphorus homeostasis, and neuropsychiatric and autoimmune disorders. Nearly one-third of the global population has suboptimal levels of vitamin D, according to epidemiological data. Vitamin D status is usually determined by measuring serum 25(OH)D, but, for decades, serum 25(OH)D measurement has been hampered by a lack of standardization. There have been many recent initiatives to develop reference substances and methods for measuring vitamin D and its metabolites, and re-evaluating the optimal values. It was also suggested that alternative biological samples could also be used, such as hair, since it has been established that lipophilic substances, such as corticosteroids, can also be found in hair. The purpose of this study was to determine the correlation between 25(OH)D3 concentrations in serum and hair, and other demographic features in 26 healthy Caucasian young adult volunteers. The determination of 25(OH)D3 and cholecalciferol was carried out using liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC-MS) from blood and hair samples taken at two timepoints separated by nine weeks. In the hair samples of 18 out of 26 subjects, 25(OH)D was detected at a mean (±SEM) concentration of 17.07 ± 5.375 pg/mg at the first sampling time, and 58.90 ± 25.97 pg/mg at the second sampling time. A multiple linear regression analysis revealed no effects of gender, body mass index, supplementation, or sun exposure on hair 25(OH)D3 concentrations, but supplementation and sun exposure significantly increased serum 25(OH)D3 concentrations. In addition, serum and hair 25(OH)D3 concentrations did not correlate; however, there was a strong correlation between the two sampling times for serum 25(OH)D3 concentrations. In conclusion, this study confirmed that 25(OH)D3 could be detected in human hair, but its use as a biomarker warrants further investigations since no link was found between serum 25(OH)D3 concentrations, supplementation, sun exposure, and hair 25(OH)D3 concentrations levels. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vitamin D as a Biomarker in the Standardization Era: A Clinical Point of View)
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