Nutritional immunity. Host's attempt to withold iron from microbial invaders

Abstract

Nutritional immunity (NI) refers to the host''s ability to withold essential nutrients (i.e., Fe) from invading bacterial microbes. The role of Fe-binding proteins in normal human plasma in restricting parasitic nutrition is reviewed; substances like transferrin and leukocytic endogenous mediator may be important in NI, NI in hyperferremia, hypotransferremia and hypoferremia are discussed. Normal hosts can possibly protect themselves from invaders by increasing transferrin and lactoferrin synthesis, suppressing microbial siderophore synthesis and lowering the quantity of Fe in fluids such as plasma.