Scientists from the Department of International Health, Immunology and Microbiology have discovered that vitamin D is crucial to activating our immune defense. When there are insufficient levels of vitamin D circulating in the body, T-cells, the killer cells of our immune system, do not properly react to fight off serious infection. The first stage in the activation of a T-cell requires vitamin D. When a T-cell comes across a foreign pathogen, an immediate biochemical response extends a signal known as a vitamin D receptor, which is in search for vitamin D. This means that the T-cell must have access to vitamin D or activation of the cell will cease. Without proper mobilization of T-cells our body can not fight off infections.
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