{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,30]],"date-time":"2026-04-30T23:15:30Z","timestamp":1777590930944,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,4,18]],"date-time":"2024-04-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1713398400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title><jats:p>Vitamin D deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency worldwide. Chronic vitamin D deficiency causes immune system dysfunction, which increases susceptibility to pathogens such as bacteria, especially intracellular parasites, and viruses. <jats:italic>Chlamydia trachomatis<\/jats:italic> (C. t) is an obligate intracellular parasitic bacterium that causes a variety of sequelae. We speculated that vitamin D might be associated with C. t infection. This study aimed to address this gap in knowledge by investigating the relationship between vitamin D and C. t infection using both <jats:italic>in vitro<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>in vivo<\/jats:italic> models.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods and results<\/jats:title><jats:p>The addition of calcitriol to McCoy cell culture <jats:italic>in vitro<\/jats:italic> delayed and reduced the quantity and volume of inclusions compared to the control group. Macrophages of peritoneally lavaged mice co-cultured with McCoy decreased the infection rate and delayed the appearance of inclusions. In mice models of vitamin D deficiency, mice in the VD-group exhibited more severe genital tract inflammation and a longer duration of infection after inoculation with C. t in the genital tract. Supplementing these mice with vitamin D3 during treatment enhanced the therapeutic effect of antibiotics. We also conducted a case-control study involving 174\u00a0C. t-positive patients (95 males and 79 females) and 380 healthy volunteers (211 males and 169 females) aged 20\u201349 from January 2016 to March 15, 2017. Serum 25-(OH)D concentration was measured by assessing morning fasting blood samples of healthy volunteers and C. t-positive patients 1 day before antibiotic treatment and the next day after one course of treatment. The patients were followed up for 1 month and evaluated for recovery. The results showed that vitamin D deficiency was a risk factor for C. t infection and treatment failure.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>In summary, findings from experimental and clinical studies indicate a close association between vitamin D levels and C. t infection and treatment outcomes. Given the affordability and safety of vitamin D, both healthy individuals and patients should focus on vitamin D intake. Vitamin D supplementation could enhance treatment success and should be used as an adjunctive therapy alongside antibiotic therapy for C. t infections, pending confirmation in larger, prospective, randomized controlled trials.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fcimb.2024.1366136","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,4,18]],"date-time":"2024-04-18T04:16:44Z","timestamp":1713413804000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Vitamin D effects on Chlamydia trachomatis infection: a case-control and experimental study"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Sijia","family":"Liu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Tianwei","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Quanzhong","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,4,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"814","DOI":"10.4161\/auto.7.8.15597","article-title":"Autophagy-independent function of MAP-LC3 during intracellular propagation of Chlamydia trachomatis","volume":"7","author":"Al-Younes","year":"2011","journal-title":"Autophagy"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"50","DOI":"10.4161\/auto.22482","article-title":"Autophagy restricts Chlamydia trachomatis growth in human macrophages via IFNG-inducible guanylate binding proteins","volume":"9","author":"Al-Zeer","year":"2013","journal-title":"Autophagy"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1157","DOI":"10.1007\/s00210-020-01911-4","article-title":"Vitamin D can prevent COVID-19 infection-induced multiple organ damage","volume":"393","author":"Aygun","year":"2020","journal-title":"Naunyn Schmiedebergs Arch. 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