Assessment of peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets in children with iron deficiency anemia

Abstract

BackgroundIron plays an important role in body defense and essential for normal immune system development where its deficiency may result in an inadequate immune response. We aimed to assess the lymphocyte subsets in childhood iron deficiency anemia (IDA) with their laboratory correlations.MethodsFifty IDA (< 18 years) and 25 age and sex-matched healthy children were enrolled and a complete history was obtained and clinical examination was performed. Complete blood count, serum iron, total iron binding capacity and serum ferritin, were performed. Flow cytometric determination of peripheral blood CD3+, CD4+, CD8+ T-lymphocytes and CD19+ B-lymphocytes and CD4/CD8 ratio were done.ResultsPatients had significantly lower hemoglobin, Serum iron, ferritin levels and higher lymphocytic count in patients compared with controls (p = 0.001, 0.03, 0.001, 0.001 respectively). CD3 count and percentage were significantly lower in IDA patients compared to controls (p = 0.007 and 0.005 respectively).There was a Significant reduction in the CD4 count, percentage and CD4/CD8 ratio in patients compared with controls (p = 0.001, 0.001 and 0.005 respectively) while there was no significant difference regarding CD8 count and percentage. No significant difference between the two studied groups regarding either CD19 count or percentage (p = 0.28 and 0.18 respectively) were found.ConclusionsIDA is associated with impaired cell-mediated immune response specifically T-cell mediated immunity.

Iron deficiency anemia-related gut microbiota dysbiosis in infants and young children: A pilot study

“…Such alterations (i.e., the expansion of enterobacteria) could reflect an altered intestinal environment created by host inflammatory responses [32]. Indeed, ID negatively affects cell-mediated and humoral immunity in children [33,34]. An impaired functioning of the host immune system may result in dysbiosis of the gut microbiota, as that observed in our IDA infant cohort, which, in turn, may further impair immunological responses, nurturing the inflammatory process and contributing to disease development [35].…”

The Role of the Status of Selected Micronutrients in Shaping the Immune Function

“…Iron deficiency has been associated with alterations in T lymphocyte numbers, particularly of the CD4 + Th1 subpopulation [ 23 ]. Maturation of Th cells was impaired in children with iron-deficiency anaemia and was regenerated by iron supplementation [ 24 , 25 ]. Iron deficiency affects Th1 lymphocytes to a higher degree than their Th2 counterparts due to larger and less labile iron stores in Th2 cells that render them more resilient to the effects of iron chelators and anti-transferrin receptor antibodies [ 26 ].…”

Recuento poblacional linfocitario como primera aproximación al diagnóstico de inmunodeficiencias primarias

“…En este estudio se determinó que la tercera parte de pacientes con sospecha de IDP presentó disminución de la relación CD4/CD8, hallazgo asociado con anemia ferropénica según una serie (15 ) . Asimismo, no se consideró el estudio de anemia en estos pacientes; sin embargo, sería importante abordar tal aspecto considerando que el hierro es esencial para el desarrollo funcional normal del sistema inmunológico, por ello su deficiencia puede resultar en una respuesta inmune inadecuada (16) .…”