Hepcidin-Mediated Hypoferremia Disrupts Immune Responses to Vaccination and Infection

Frost JN, Tan TK, Abbas M, Wideman SK, Bonadonna M, Stoffel NU, Wray K, Kronsteiner B, Smits G, Campagna DR, Duarte TL, Lopes JM, Shah A, Armitage AE, Arezes J, Lim PJ, Preston AE, Ahern D, Teh M, Naylor C, Salio M, Gileadi U, Andrews SC, Dunachie SJ, Zim · Med · 2021 February

DOI 10.1016/j.medj.2020.10.004

Objective

To investigate the impact of low iron availability, induced by increased hepcidin, on adaptive immunity through in vitro and in vivo experiments.

Conclusions

Hypoferremia, resulting from increased hepcidin levels, severely impairs effector and memory responses to immunizations, suggesting a critical role of iron in supporting immune responses. Iron supplementation improves vaccine responses in hypoferremic models, highlighting the importance of iron availability in immunity against infections and vaccines.

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