Vitamin E activity in immune response: A possible immunohenancing role in chronic viral infections

In recent years, many roles of Vitamin E have been demonstrated and include not only antioxidant functions, but also cell signaling and immunemodulatory functions. In this paper the experimental and clinical evidence of vitamin E immunomodulatory properties as well as the vitamin E biological activities able to stimulate and enhance immune activities are briefly reviewed. Several lines of evidence suggest that vitamin E might be useful to improve immune unresponsiveness induced by several pathological conditions such as chronic viral infections and make its use in this setting promising. Further studies investigating the effects of Vitamin E on are of interest as they might help to identify its therapeutic utility in chronic infections. © 2010 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.