Effects of Iron Deficiency and Its Indicators on Lymphocyte Subsets: A Study at King Fahd Hospital of the University, Saudi Arabia.
J Blood Med
; 13: 61-67, 2022.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-35210893
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Iron deficiency plays an important role in our body's immunity. Several studies have shown that it is frequently associated with infections.OBJECTIVE:
This study aimed to discover the effect of iron deficiency on immunity by demonstrating changes occurring in lymphocyte subsets among patients with an established diagnosis of iron deficiency.METHODS:
A total of 64 iron-deficient patients and 19 healthy controls were included. Complete blood counts, serum iron, ferritin, and total iron-binding capacity were assessed. Lymphocyte subsets were evaluated by flow cytometry.RESULTS:
Among iron-deficient patients, the anemic ones (Hb ≤11 g/dL) showed significantly lower absolute lymphocyte counts (p=0.013), lower relative and absolute NK-cell counts (p=0.025 and p=0.003, respectively), higher relative T-cell and CD4+-cell counts (p=0.026 and p=0.002, respectively). B cells and CD8+ T cells were not affected by any iron-deficiency indicators. Iron-deficient anemia patients showed a three- to fourfold increase in risk of having recurrent infections.CONCLUSION:
Iron deficiency has an obvious effect on lymphocyte subsets. Changes in lymphocyte subsets started mainly in response to decreased hemoglobin, rather than decreased ferritin and/or iron. Synchronously decreased hemoglobin and increased total iron-binding capacity led to absolute decreases in total lymphocytes, mainly NK cells, and relative increases in T cells, mainly the helper ones. Monitoring changes in lymphocyte subsets may be helpful in identifying patients at risk of recurrent infections.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Language:
En
Journal:
J Blood Med
Year:
2022
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Arabia Saudita
Publication country:
NEW ZEALAND
/
NOVA ZELÂNDIA
/
NUEVA ZELANDA
/
NZ