Transcript Slide 1

Nutrients
and Immune system
 Innate immunity
a)Macrophages , monocytes,eosinophils,Dc,basophils,…
b)Complement
c)Acute phase proteins
d)Cytokines
e)Other proteins
f)Interferons
 Adaptive immunity
a)Complement
b)Cytokines
c)B & T cells
d)Antigen presenting cells
e)Antibodies
Nutrition
 Nutrition is a critical determinant of immune responses and malnutrition the most
common cause of immunodeficiency worldwide.
 Protein –energy malnutrition is associated with a significant impairment of:
 CMI
 phagocyte function
 complement system
 secretory IgA concentration
 cytokine production.
 Of the micronutrients :zn,slenium,iron,cu,vit.A,C,E,B6 and folic acid have
important influences on immune responses.
 Overnutrition and obesity also reduce immunity.
Malnutrition
 Undernourished
a)consuming too few essential nutrients
b) using or excreting them more rapidly than they can be
replaced
c)Loss of appetite
d)chronic diseases especially disease of the intestinal
tract, kidneys, and liver
e)drug or alcohol dependencies
 Overnourished(dietary imbalances )
Nutrient deficiencies
 The 5 aspects of immunity affected by malnutrition
are:
a)CMI
b)Phagocyte function
c)Complement system
d) Secretory antibody
e)Cytokine production
Micronutrients
 Micronutrient deficiencies and infectious diseases often
coexist
 micronutrients are significant immunomodulators and
thus are critical in determining the outcome of host
microbe interactions
 Infections, in turn, aggravate micronutrient deficiencies by
a)reducing nutrient intake
b)increasing losses
c)and interfering with utilization by altering the metabolic
pathways
Antioxidant Micronutrient Deficiency
 Micronutrients such as beta-carotene, vitamin C,
selenium,copper, and riboflavin are powerful
antioxidants and are found to significantly in•fluence
infection-related morbidity in humans.
 Beck and Levander in their recent critical review
describe the possibility of serious effects of
antioxidant-deficient status on viral infections.
 Micro-nutrients like iron, copper, zinc, folic acid, and
vitamins A, C, E and B-6 all have important influences
on immune response
Vitamin A
• As early as 1928, Green and Mellanby named vitamin A
as an anti-infective vitamin
 Apart from its effects on vision, the role of vitamin
A in maintaining the structural and functional integrity
of mucosal epithelial cells through its actions on gene
expression
• vitamin A controls cellular proliferation and
*differentiation
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The effect of vitamin A deficiency
reduced number of lymphocytes
low immunoglobulin (Ig) concentrations
Decreased antibody responses to viral and bacterial antigens
impaired T-cell responses in vivo and in vitro
Abnormal cytokine production Thus, vitamin A deficiency
leads to a suppression of many of the effector functions
of the immune system and consequently to a state of
immunodeficiency
 Hydrogen peroxide generation by neutrophils and IL-1
production and cytotoxic functions in macrophages and
leukocyte lysozyme content of phagocytic cells was found to be
low in vitamin A– deficient children.
 Keratinizing metaplasia with decreased mucus
production caused by disappearance of goblet cells is
the most important change observed on epithelial
linings in vitamin A– deficient children.
 Such a change has been shown to increase bacterial
adherence, thus promoting colonization and
subsequent invasion by pathogenic microbes.
 Vitamin A also helps to maintain the mucous
membrane and skin, thus improving defense to
infection
Immune Adjuvant Effects of
Vitamin A
 Administration of 100,000 to 200,000 IU of vitamin A as a single dose has
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been found to enhance phagocytic functions in macrophages.
Enhancement of seroconversion rates to measles vaccine when
coadministered with vitamin A (84%)
The immunopotentiating effects of large dose administrations of vitamin A
have led to their routine use in reducing the severity and complications of
infectious diseases like measles and diarrhea.
Supplementation of beta-carotene or vitamin A in HIV-positive pregnant
women was also found to reduce verticaltransmission of the virus.
The effects of vitamin A administration in reducing the load of malarial
parasitemia in countries having endemic malaria is of clinical relevance
Iron
 Besides being a hemopoietic factor, iron is essential for:
a) cell proliferation
b)oxidative metabolism of various tissues
c) alter cell-mediated immune functions in children as well as in pregnant
women
d) Circulating T-cell numbers were found to be significantly impaired in
children having iron deficiency and anemia.
e) Increased susceptibility to predominantly intracellular microbial infections
and also raise concerns about the success of immunization programs among
children living in communities having widely prevalent iron deficiency
Zinc
 Zinc is a biologically essential trace element:
 critical for cell growth
 cell development and differentiation
 It is required for DNA synthesis
 RNA transcription
 cell division
 cell activation
Zinc
 Zinc deficiency affects multiple aspects of innate and
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adaptive immunity :
lymphopenia
increased infection
prolonged healing time
both of which are indicators of compromised
immunity
 lymphoid atrophy
 decreased delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity responses and lower
thymic hormone activity.
Zinc
 Zinc deficiency :
 decreases production of the Th1 cell cytokines,
IFN-[gamma], IL-2, and tumor necrosis factor
(TNF)-[alpha], which play major roles in tumor
suppression. These in turn inhibit the functional
capacity of these cells
Zinc
 Several investigators reported a significant association
between low plasma zinc levels and respiratory tract
infections in children
 Zinc-deficient individuals have been observed to
exhibit decreased thymulin levels and impaired cellmediated immune functions.
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Copper
 A medical publication in 1867 reported that, during
the cholera epidemics in Paris of 1832, 1849 and 1852,
copper workers did not develop cholera.
 Another observation was that persons with Menke's
disease died from frequent and severe infections due
to an inadequate immune response.
 Menke's is an inherited disease causing defective
copper absorption and severe copper deficiency1.
Copper
 Some of the recent research showed that interleukin 2
is reduced in copper deficiency and is likely the
mechanism by which T cell proliferation is reduced.
 The number of neutrophils in human peripheral blood
is reduced in cases of severe copper deficiency.
 Not only are they reduced in number, but their ability
to generate superoxide anion and kill ingested
microorganisms is also reduced in both overt and
marginal copper deficiency
-Carotene
 -Carotene and other carotenoids may enhance immune
function by quenching singlet oxygen and other reactive
oxygen species, including free radicals.
-Carotene
 PMN
reactive oxygene and free radicals
killing of bacteria
human PMN incubated with -carotene and bacteria,
the bacteria were killed efficiently and the PMN were
not damaged or destroyed by the free radicals.
-Carotene
*T helper cell numbers were significantly increased in
individuals given -carotene supplementation.
*A large body of epidemiological evidence has shown
that diets rich in carotenoids have been associated with
lower risk of developing many types of cancer
*it was shown that human natural killer cells killed
significantly more tumor cells when incubated with carotene than human cells not exposed to -caroten
-Carotene
 Carotenoids may increase the tumoricidal activity of the
cytotoxic T cells, macrophages and/or natural killer cells by
any of these mechanisms of action.
 T and B lymphocyte proliferation
 induction of specific effector cells capable of killing tumor
cells
 and the secretion of factors required for the communication
between immunologically competent cells.
Vitamin C
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Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is a powerful antioxidant and
immune booster, an antiviral and anticancer nutrient. The white
blood cells utilize vitamin C to fight microbes, infections and
inflammation; during which levels of vitamin C are depleted.
Animals; except for guinea pigs have the necessary enzyme to
synthesize vitamin C in their liver. But humans lack this
vitamin C synthesizing enzyme. During high stress situations,
our requirement for vitamin C increases.
 Vitamin C is a good example of a nutrient where experimental
deficiencies have shown consistently increased susceptibility
to infections
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Human milk
Advantages of human milk
 Human milk provides the newborn with:
a) nutrients
b)growth factors
c)anti-infectious substances
 Breastfeeding to account for the decrease in number
and severity of infants’ intestinal and respiratory
infections ,as well as of septicemia and meningitis
 the enhancement of maternal-infant bonding
 and avoidance of allergic diseases
 The protective activity of breastfeeding against
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infections is explained by antimicrobial factors such as
the:
immunoglobulins
Leucocytes
Lysozyme
Lactoferrin
and bifidus factor
 Human milk contains IgA antibodies
 Human milk also directly affects the neonate’s
immune system, because it contains a factor that
stimulates IgA synthesis in the infant
 cell-mediated immunity is transferred from mother to
infant through human milk
 First ,Human milk shows antimicrobial activity.A
lower incidence of infections may in turn reduce risk
for sensitisation
 Secondly,breastfeeding has been proposed to affect the
gastrointestinal flora in a direction that may be
favourable in terms of prevention of sensitisation,
since introduction of cow’s milk promotes the growth
of gram-negative endotoxin producing bacteria with
adjuvant properties that enhance sensitisation
 Thirdly, certain hormones, identified in human milk,
such as cortisol, growth factors such as epidermal
growth factor ,insulin-like growth factor ,milk growth
factor ,and transforming growth factor (TGF), may
support the anatomic integrity of the mucosal barrier
in the infant.