Increased susceptibility to Mycobacterium avium in hemochromatosis protein HFE-deficient mice

• Tipo: Artigo em Revista Científica Internacional
• Data: 2008

Autores

Sandra Gomes Pereira (Autor) Outra; Pedro Nuno Rodrigues (Autor) ICBAS; Rui Appelberg (Autor) ICBAS; Maria Salome Gomes (Autor) ICBAS

Revista

Título: Infection and Immunity

Vol. 76

Páginas: 4713-4719

ISSN: 0019-9567

Editora: American Society for Microbiology

Indexação

ISI Web of Knowledge - 26 Citações

Scopus - 29 Citações

Pubmed / Medline

Classificação Científica

FOS: Ciências médicas e da saúde > Medicina básica

CORDIS: Ciências da Saúde > Ciências Médicas > Medicina > Infecções

Outras Informações

ID Authenticus: P-003-VTV

DOI: 10.1128/iai.00612-08

Abstract (EN): Mycobacterium avium is an opportunistic infectious agent in immunocompromised patients, living inside macrophage phagosomes. As for other mycobacterial species, iron availability is a critical factor for M. avium survival and multiplication. Indeed, an association between host secondary iron overload and increased susceptibility to these mycobacteria is generally acknowledged. However, studies on the impact of primary iron overload on M. avium infection have not been performed. In this work, we used animal models of primary iron overload that mimic the human disease hereditary hemochromatosis. This pathology is characterized by increased serum transferrin saturation with iron deposition in parenchymal cells, mainly in the liver, and is most often associated with mutations in the gene encoding the molecule HFE. In this paper, we demonstrate that mice of two genetically determined primary iron overload phenotypes, Hfe(-/-) and beta 2m(-/-), show an increased susceptibility to experimental infection with M. avium and that during infection these animals accumulate iron inside granuloma macrophages. beta 2m(-/-) mice were found to be more susceptible than Hfe(-/-) mice, but depleting Hfe(-/-) mice of CD8(+) cells had no effect on resistance to infection. Overall, our results suggest that serum iron, rather than total liver iron, levels have a considerable impact on susceptibility to M. avium infection.

Idioma: Inglês

Tipo (Avaliação Docente): Científica

Nº de páginas: 7