[Cellular immunity and vitamins].

The purpose of this review is to introduce the informations on cellular immunity and vitamins. Until now, many literatures have addressed the evidences showing the close relationship between cellular immunity and vitamins. In water-soluble vitamins, it is well-known that their deficiences induce the marked decrease of cellular immunity, although their supplementations have little effect. In contrast, lipid-soluble vitamins such as vitamin A and E markedly affect cellular immunity in both deficient and excess state. Vitamin A supplementation induces the increase of cellular immunity such as phagocytic and tumoricidal activities in human monocytes or mouse peritoneal macrophages. High intake of vitamin E has an ability to improve the decreased cellular immunity in the aged, which appears to be associated with the decreased production of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). In summary, since vitamins are important nutrients to maintain and promote cellular immunity, the beneficial use of vitamins for the health of human should be considered.