ArticleFrontiers in immunology2024
Iron improves the antiviral activity of NK cells.
Article in Frontiers in immunology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed.
- From Iron to Depression: The Crosstalk Between the Periphery and Brain.Neuroscience bulletin · 2026Review
- Iron Dysregulation and Vascular Diseases: A Contemporary Review.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2026Review
- Review
- Targeted immunotherapies and nanomedicines for ovarian cancer: the way forward.NPJ precision oncology · 2026Review
- Iron as an immunometabolic signal in infection and inflammation.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Inflammation and iron metabolism dysregulation as hallmarks of COVID-19 severity.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Observational
- Association between iron deficiency anemia and the risk of new-onset tuberculosis infection: a matched cohort analysis.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Clinical utility of metagenomic next-generation sequencing in infants with severe infections.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Iron deficiency and vaccine efficacy: A mini-review of immunological interplay and evidence across vaccine types.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2025Review
- Article
- Nutritional Deficiencies and Management in Tuberculosis: Pharmacotherapeutic and Clinical Implications.Nutrients · 2025Review
- Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Natural killer (NK) cells are innate immune cells that play a crucial role as a first line of defense against viral infections and tumor development. Iron is an essential nutrient for immune cells, but it can also pose biochemical risks such as the production of reactive oxygen species. The importance of iron for the NK cell function has gained increasing recognition. We have previously shown that NK cells require iron to efficiently eliminate virus-infected target cells; however, the impact of nutritional iron deficiency on NK cell function and the therapeutic benefits of iron supplementation remain unclear. Here, we demonstrate that diet-related low iron levels lead to increased retroviral loads due to functional NK cell impairment, while iron supplementation enhances NK cell proliferation, as well as their cytotoxic efficacy. Notably, iron-treated NK cells exhibited significant metabolic changes, including mitochondrial reorganization. Interestingly, although iron supplementation decreased the NK cell's cytokine production, it significantly improved NK cell degranulation and the expression of cytotoxicity-associated proteins. These findings highlight the critical role of iron in maintaining NK cell immunity and suggest that iron supplementation may hold therapeutic potential for supporting the treatment of viral infections and immunodeficiency disorders.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.