Antimicrobial properties of iron-binding proteins.

The transferrins are iron-binding proteins with molecular weights of around 80,000, which interact with a maximum of two ferric atoms per each protein molecule. The best known transferrins are the serotransferrins from animal sera, lactoferrins from milk, and conalbumin from egg-white. The iron-deficient transferrins will inhibit the growth of certain bacteria and fungi by making iron unavailable for bacterial metabolism. Such activity is abolished if the transferrin is saturated with iron. Many organisms can produce small molecular-weight iron-binding compounds called siderophores that can successfully utilize the iron sequestered by the transferrins. Such organisms are very virulent. Overwhelming evidence is now available to indicate that the transferrins play an important role in mammalian host-defense mechanisms. Thus, iron injections into animals infected with virulent bacteria result in increased death rates, and parenteral iron administration to human infants predisposes them to fatal septicemia. On the other hand, in cases of systemic infection, the organism responds by lowering its total serum iron, so as to make the serotransferrin present less saturated with iron. This phenomenon is called nutritional immunity. The iron apparently moves into the storage tissues from the circulation, and furthermore, it is withheld from circulation by the reticuloendothelial system. Laboratory results in such cases indicate low total serum iron levels and high unsaturated iron-binding activity values, thus increasing the bacteriostatic effects of the serotransferrins. Increased lactoferrin levels are observed in the milks of mastitic cattle.