Mycobacteria-induced anaemia revisited: A molecular approach reveals the involvement of NRAMP1 and lipocalin-2, but not of hepcidin

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2011

Authors

Pedro N Rodrigues (Author) ICBAS; Sandro S Gomes (Author) Other; Joao V Neves (Author) Other; Sandra Gomes Pereira (Author) Other; Margarida Correia Neves (Author) Other; Claudio Nunes Alves (Author) Other; Jens Stolte (Author) Other; Mayka Sanchez (Author) Other; Rui Appelberg (Author) ICBAS; Martina U Muckenthaler (Author) Other; Salome Gomes, MS (Author) ICBAS

Journal

Title: Immunobiology

Vol. 216

Pages: 1127-1134

ISSN: 0171-2985

Publisher: Elsevier

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 22 Citations

Scopus - 24 Citations

Pubmed / Medline

Scientific classification

FOS: Medical and Health sciences > Basic medicine

CORDIS: Health sciences > Medical sciences

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-002-KW5

DOI: 10.1016/j.imbio.2011.04.004

Abstract (EN): Anaemia is a frequent complication of chronic infectious diseases but the exact mechanisms by which it develops remain to be clarified. In the present work, we used a mouse model of mycobacterial infection to study molecular alterations of iron metabolism induced by infection. We show that four weeks after infection with Mycobacterium avium BALB/c mice exhibited a moderate anaemia, which was not accompanied by an increase on hepatic hepcidin mRNA expression. Instead, infected mice presented increased mRNA expression of ferroportin (SIc40a1), ceruloplasmin (Cp), hemopexin (Hpx), heme-oxygenase-1 (Hmox1) and lipocalin-2 (Lcn2). Both the anaemia and the mRNA expression changes of iron-related genes were largely absent in C.D2 mice which bear a functional allele of the Nramp1 gene. Data presented in this work suggest that anaemia due to a chronic mycobacterial infection may develop in the absence of elevated hepcidin expression, is influenced by Nramp1 and may involve lipocalin-2.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 8