The effect of iron deficiency on the immune response in mice.

Weanling male CD-1 mice were fed low-iron or iron-supplemented diets for 31 days. Mice fed the low-iron diet exhibited typical signs of iron deficiency, which included reduced weight gains (P = 0.0041) and anemia (P less than 0.0001). The effect of iron deficiency on antibody production, lymphocyte blastogenesis, and sensitivity to endotoxin were evaluated. Antibody production against sheep red blood cells, a T-lymphocyte dependent response, was reduced in iron-deficient mice (P = 0.0067). In contrast, antibody production against dinitrophenyl-ficoll, a T-lymphocyte-independent response, was not affected by iron deficiency (P = 0.291). Iron deficiency reduced T-lymphocyte blastogenesis induced by concanavalin A (P = 0.011), but had no effect on B-lymphocyte blastogenesis induced by Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (P = 0.662). These results indicate that the immunosuppressive effects of iron deficiency are related to T-lymphocyte function associated with lymphocyte proliferation and antibody production. A significantly increased susceptibility to endotoxin, a T-lymphocyte-independent response involving nonspecific defense mechanisms, was not observed in iron-deficient mice. Mortality associated with endotoxin was 14.2% in the iron-deficient mice as compared to 35% in the iron-replete mice (P = 0.079).