Iron deficiency, but not underfeeding reduces the secretion of interferon-gamma by mitogen-activated murine spleen cells

Abstract Interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), a cytokine primarily secreted by T and natural killer cells regulates cell-mediated and innate immunity. Iron deficiency, a public health problem in children impairs immune function. To determine whether reduced IFN-γ contributes to impaired immunity, we measured IFN-γ in supernatants of activated (2.5 μg/ml concanavalin A, 50 ng/ml anti-CD3 antibody) spleen cells from control (C), iron-deficient (ID), pair-fed (PF), and iron-replete mice for 3 (R3) and 14 days (R14) (11–12/group). Except for iron content, the low iron (5 ppm) and control (50 ppm) diets had identical composition. Mean indices of iron status after 51 days of feeding were as follows: C = PF ≈ R14 > R3 > ID ( p p r  = 0.238–0.472; p