The Influence of Vitamin A Supplementation on Foxp3 and TGF-β Gene Expression in Atherosclerotic Patients

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of vitamin A in Foxp3 and TGF-β gene expression in atherosclerotic patients. Patients and healthy controls in the vitamin A group received 25,000 IU retinyl palmitate per day, while patients in the placebo group took one capsule of placebo per day for 4 months. Gene expressions of regulatory T cells were studied by real-time PCR. The levels of Foxp3 expression in phytohemagglutinin-activated cells were much higher in the patients who received vitamin A than in placebo-treated patients and healthy controls, while Foxp3 gene expression in oxidized low-density lipoprotein-activated cells showed no significant differences between all groups (p = 0.357). A significant difference in the expression level of TGF-β gene in fresh cells was observed between patients and healthy controls (p = 0.009). TGF-β gene expression in oxidized low-density lipoprotein-activated cells increased in all groups; however, these changes were not statistically significant (p = 0.65); the changes obtained were 2.8-, 2.2- and 3.9-fold in the vitamin A, placebo, and control groups, respectively. Based on suppressing actions of regulatory T cells on effector T cells and findings that show that vitamin A has the effect of increasing expression of regulatory T cells, it can be concluded that supplementation with vitamin A in atherosclerotic patients may be effective in slowing disease progression.