Abstract (eng)
Iron is an essential nutrient for both, the immune cells and microbes. During infections, the control over iron homeostasis is therefore essential for counteracting bacterial expansion.
Within the current master thesis, we show that iron-overload results in an increased storage of the metal within the iron storage protein ferritin, whereas iron-deprivation results in an enhanced iron import through TfR.
This increased iron levels within macrophages in iron-overloaded conditions not only enhance the bacterial number within the cells, but also reduce cytokine expression, which results in limited control over infections and have therefore negative effects on the host immune cells. Contrary, iron- limitation results in the opposite effect, since it lowers the bacterial number within macrophages and ensures a strong immune response and therefore, provides opportunities for the host.
In addition, we show that the metabolic activity of macrophages alters during an infection as well as iron-deprived states, resulting in sift towards aerobic glycolysis and hence higher proliferation of immune cells and elevated control over infections. We show that under infection conditions, the mTOR signalling pathway plays an essential role for the metabolic reprogramming within macrophages, since inhibition of mTOR using rapamycin results in abolishment of this metabolic alterations. Moreover, we show that mTOR is important for an effective immune response, since rapamycin treatment of macrophages enhances the bacterial number within the cells and reduces the production of effective immune mediators, such as pro-inflammatory cytokines, and therefore impede a strong and effective elimination of the pathogens.