Lactoferrin is a natural protein with various physiological activities, which has the function of regulating immunity, anti-microbial, regulating iron absorption, promoting the proliferation of intestinal cells, and multiple pathophysiological processes. In recent years, lactoferrin has been widely used in infants, pregnant women, and the elderly. In order to more comprehensively understand the clinical application of lactoferrin and establish the method and index system of lactoferrin application in different populations, clinical nutritionists, together with experts from multiple disciplines, used the evidence grading method of GRADE Collaboration Network Ⅱ under the principle of evidence-based medicine to search for clinical evidence and repeatedly discuss. The experts group reached a consensus on the effect of lactoferrin reducing the risk of infection in premature infants, the incidence of respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases in infants, improving the anemia status of infants and pregnant women, improving the eradication rate of Helicobacter pylori in children and adults, and improving the immune function of the elderly, which could be used as a reference for medical professionals in clinical work.
Adult ; Infant ; Child ; Humans ; Female ; Pregnancy ; Aged ; Helicobacter Infections ; Lactoferrin ; Consensus ; East Asian People

Iron metabolism is the process of absorption, transport, storage and conversion and excretion of the essential trace element iron in living organisms. Normal iron metabolism tightly regulates iron content at the systemic and cellular levels through a variety of related proteins to prevent excessive free radicals from being generated during the iron cycle that can damage the body. Various abnormalities in iron metabolism are found in a variety of lymphohaematopoietic tumours and an insidious link between iron metabolism and tumour development has been revealed. Serum ferritin levels and abnormalities of iron transport proteins, transferrin and their receptors can be used as prognostic indicators for lymphohematopoietic tumours and have opened up new directions of diagnosis and treatment, with a large number of novel drugs targeting tumours emerging to date. This article briefly describes the normal iron metabolism process and highlights the progress of research on abnormal iron metabolism in lymphohematopoietic tumors at the systemic and cellular levels.
Hematopoiesis ; Humans ; Iron/metabolism* ; Neoplasms ; Receptors, Transferrin/metabolism* ; Transferrin/metabolism*

Haemochromatosis is characterised by elevated transferrin saturation (TSAT) and progressive iron loading that mainly affects the liver. Early diagnosis and treatment by phlebotomy can prevent cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, diabetes, arthropathy and other complications. In patients homozygous for p.Cys282Tyr in HFE, provisional iron overload based on serum iron parameters (TSAT >45% and ferritin >200 μg/L in females and TSAT >50% and ferritin >300 μg/L in males and postmenopausal women) is sufficient to diagnose haemochromatosis. In patients with high TSAT and elevated ferritin but other HFE genotypes, diagnosis requires the presence of hepatic iron overload on MRI or liver biopsy. The stage of liver fibrosis and other end-organ damage should be carefully assessed at diagnosis because they determine disease management. Patients with advanced fibrosis should be included in a screening programme for hepatocellular carcinoma. Treatment targets for phlebotomy are ferritin <50 μg/L during the induction phase and <100 μg/L during the maintenance phase.
Male ; Humans ; Female ; Hemochromatosis/therapy* ; Hemochromatosis Protein/genetics* ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/complications* ; Iron Overload/genetics* ; Ferritins ; Liver Cirrhosis/complications* ; Iron ; Fibrosis ; Liver Neoplasms/complications* ; Transferrins

Objective: To explore the effects of enteral immunonutrition support therapy on nutritional metabolism, immune function, and inflammatory response in adult burn patients at nutritional risk as assessed by the modified 2^nd nutrition risk screening (NRS) 2002. Methods: A prospective randomized controlled study was conducted. From December 2019 to January 2022, 500 adult patients who were admitted to the Affiliated Huaihai Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University and had nutritional risk assessed by the modified 2^nd NRS 2002 were recruited into the study. According to burn severity, the patients were divided into common burn patients (n=450) and severe burn patients (n=50). According to the random number table, the patients with common burn were divided into common burn diet nutrition group and common burn diet enteral immunonutrition group, with 225 patients in each group, and the patients with severe burn were divided into severe burn diet enteral non-immunonutrition group and severe burn diet enteral immunonutrition group, with 25 patients in each group. The patients in each group were given the corresponding nutritional support therapies on the basis of routine burn treatment. On post injury day (PID) 1, 3, 7, 14, and 21, the total energy intake and total protein intake of the patients in 4 groups were recorded, the plasma prealbumin, albumin, transferrin, serum immunoglobulin A (IgA), IgG, IgM, peripheral blood CD3 positive T cell percentage, CD4 positive T cell count, CD8 positive T cell count, the ratio of CD4 positive T cells to CD8 positive T cells, natural killer cell percentage, plasma interleukin-6 (IL-6), free mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number, and soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1 (sTREM-1) of the patients in 4 groups were detected, and the nitrogen balance of the patients in 4 groups on the day was calculated. On PID 7, 14, and 21, the modified 2^nd NRS 2002 scores of the patients in 4 groups were reassessed. The sepsis incidence during treatment and the length of hospital stay of the patients in 4 groups and the length of intensive care unit (ICU) stay of the patients in the 2 severe burn groups were recorded. Data were statistically analyzed with chi-square test, Fisher's exact probability test, Mann-Whitney U test, independent sample t test, analysis of variance for repeated measurement, and Bonferroni correction. Results: A total of 476 patients completed the trial, with 213 patients in common burn diet nutrition group (112 males and 101 females, aged (37±19) years), 218 patients in common burn diet enteral immunonutrition group (115 males and 103 females, aged (42±16) years), 22 patients in severe burn diet enteral non-immunonutrition group (11 males and 11 females, aged (35±8) years), and 23 patients in severe burn diet enteral immunonutrition group (12 males and 11 females, aged (35±8) years). Compared with those in common burn diet nutrition group, the patients in common burn diet enteral immunonutrition group had significantly higher total energy intake on PID 1 (t=6.06, P<0.01), significantly lower total energy intake on PID 7 and significantly lower total protein intake on PID 1 (with t values of 6.17 and 4.59, respectively,P<0.01). On PID 21, the total energy intake of patients in severe burn diet enteral immunonutrition group was significantly lower than that in severe burn diet enteral non-immunonutrition group (t=2.70, P<0.01). The total protein intake of patients in severe burn diet enteral immunonutrition group and severe burn diet enteral non-immunonutrition group were similar at each time point post injury (P>0.05). Compared with those in common burn diet nutrition group, the patients in common burn diet enteral immunonutrition group had significantly higher level of prealbumin on PID 3, 7, 14, and 21 (with t values of 2.05, 2.33, 2.45, and 2.11, respectively, P<0.05), significantly higher level of albumin on PID 7, 14, and 21 (with t values of 2.30, 2.56, and 2.15, respectively, P<0.05), significantly higher level of transferrin on PID 7 and 14 (with t values of 1.99 and 2.27, respectively, P<0.05), significantly higher nitrogen balance on PID 14 and 21 (with t values of 2.51 and 2.07, respectively, P<0.05), and significantly lower modified 2^nd NRS 2002 score on PID 21 (t=1.99, P<0.05). Compared with those in severe burn diet enteral non-immunonutrition group, the patients in severe burn diet enteral immunonutrition group had significantly higher level of prealbumin on PID 3, 7, 14, and 21 (with t values of 2.50, 2.64, 2.18, and 2.39, respectively, P<0.05), significantly higher level of albumin​on PID 7, 14, and 21 (with t values of 2.27, 2.39, and 2.69, respectively, P<0.05), significantly higher level of transferrin and nitrogen balance but significantly lower modified 2^nd NRS 2002 score on PID 14 and 21 (with t values of 2.30, 2.35, 2.41, 2.16, 2.31, and 2.73, respectively, P<0.05). Compared with those in common burn diet nutrition group, patients in common burn diet enteral immunonutrition group had significantly higher level of IgA and IgG on PID 7, 14, and 21 (with t values of 2.19, 2.36, 2.17, 2.49, 1.97, and 2.24, respectively, P<0.05), significantly higher level of IgM on PID 21 (t=2.06, P<0.05), significantly higher percentage of CD3 positive T cells and ratio of CD4 positive T cells to CD8 positive T cells on PID 3, 7, 14, and 21 (with t values of 2.49, 2.25, 2.33, 2.41, 2.39, 2.24, 2.46, and 2.18, respectively, P<0.05), significantly higher CD4 positive T cell count (with t values of 2.15 and 2.27, respectively, P<0.05) but significantly lower CD8 positive T cell count on PID 14 and 21 (with t values of 2.58 and 2.35, P<0.05), and significantly higher percentage of natural killer cells on PID 7, 14, and 21 (with t values of 2.53, 2.21, and 2.36, respectively, P<0.05). Compared with those in severe burn diet enteral non-immunonutrition group, patients in severe burn diet immunonutrition group had significantly higher level of IgA on PID 7 and 14 (with t values of 2.15 and 2.03, respectively, P<0.05), significantly higher level of IgG on PID 7, 14, and 21 (with t values of 2.09, 2.56, and 2.15, respectively, P<0.05), significantly higher level of IgM on PID 21 (t=2.08, P<0.05), significantly higher percentage of CD3 positive T cells, CD4 positive T cell count, and percentage of natural killer cells on PID 14 and 21 (with t values of 2.52, 2.14, 2.14, 2.39, 2.56, and 2.19, respectively, P<0.05), significantly lower CD8 positive T cell count but significantly higher ratio of CD4 positive T cells to CD8 positive T cells on PID 7, 14, and 21 (with t values of 2.27, 2.81, 2.01, 2.11, 2.69, and 2.05, respectively, P<0.05). Compared with those in common burn diet nutrition group, patients in common burn diet enteral immunonutrition group had significantly lower level of IL-6 (with t values of 2.34 and 2.32, respectively, P<0.05) and significantly lower free mtDNA copy number on PID 14 and 21 (with Z values of -2.28 and -2.34,respectively, P<0.05), significantly lower level of sTREM-1 on PID 7, 14, and 21 (with t values of 2.02, 2.94, and 3.72, respectively, P<0.05). Compared with those in severe burn diet enteral non-immunonutrition group, patients in severe burn diet enteral immunonutrition group had significantly lower level of IL-6 and sTREM-1 on PID 7, 14, and 21 (with t values of 2.15, 2.29, 2.47, 2.43, 2.07, and 2.32, respectively, P<0.05), and significantly lower free mtDNA copy number on PID 14 and 21 (with Z values of -2.49 and -2.21, respectively, P<0.05). During treatment, the sepsis incidences of patients in 2 common burn groups were similar (P>0.05), the sepsis incidences of patients in 2 severe burn groups were similar (P>0.05). The length of ICU stay of patients in severe burn diet enteral immunonutrition group was (11±3) d, which was significantly shorter than (14±3) d in severe burn diet enteral non-immunonutrition group (t=3.12, P<0.01). The length of hospital stay of patients in common burn diet enteral immunonutrition group was significantly shorter than that in common burn diet nutrition group (t=3.11, P<0.01). The length of hospital stay of patients in severe burn diet enteral non-immunonutrition group was similar to that in severe burn diet enteral immunonutrition group (P>0.05). Conclusions: Enteral immunonutrition support therapy for adult burn patients at nutritional risk assessed by the modified 2^nd NRS 2002 can better improve the nutritional status and the immune function of patients, reduce inflammatory response of the body, and shorten the length of hospital stay in common burn patients and the length of ICU stay in severe burn patients.
Adult ; Burns/therapy* ; DNA, Mitochondrial ; Enteral Nutrition ; Female ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin A ; Immunoglobulin G ; Immunoglobulin M ; Interleukin-6 ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nitrogen ; Prealbumin ; Prospective Studies ; Sepsis ; Transferrins

Objective: To reassess the predictors for response at 6 months in patients with severe or very severe aplastic anemia (SAA/VSAA) who failed to respond to immunosuppressive therapy (IST) at 3 months. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 173 patients with SAA/VSAA from 2017 to 2018 who received IST and were classified as nonresponders at 3 months. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to evaluate factors that could predict the response at 6 months. Results: Univariate analysis showed that the 3-month hemoglobin (HGB) level (P=0.017) , platelet (PLT) level (P=0.005) , absolute reticulocyte count (ARC) (P<0.001) , trough cyclosporine concentration (CsA-C0) (P=0.042) , soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) level (P=0.003) , improved value of reticulocyte count (ARC(△)) (P<0.001) , and improved value of soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR(△)) level (P<0.001) were related to the 6-month response. The results of the multivariate analysis showed that the PLT level (P=0.020) and ARC(△) (P<0.001) were independent prognostic factors for response at 6 months. If the ARC(△) was less than 6.9×10(9)/L, the 6-month hematological response rate was low, regardless of the patient's PLT count. Survival analysis showed that both the 3-year overall survival (OS) [ (80.1±3.9) % vs (97.6±2.6) %, P=0.002] and 3-year event-free survival (EFS) [ (31.4±4.5) % vs (86.5±5.3) %, P<0.001] of the nonresponders at 6 months were significantly lower than those of the response group. Conclusion: Residual hematopoietic indicators at 3 months after IST are prognostic parameters. The improved value of the reticulocyte count could reflect whether the bone marrow hematopoiesis is recovering and the degree of recovery. A second treatment could be performed sooner for patients with a very low ARC(△).
Anemia, Aplastic/drug therapy* ; Antilymphocyte Serum/therapeutic use* ; Cyclosporine/therapeutic use* ; Humans ; Immunosuppression Therapy ; Immunosuppressive Agents/therapeutic use* ; Prognosis ; Receptors, Transferrin/therapeutic use* ; Retrospective Studies ; Treatment Outcome

Hemochromatosis/genetics* ; Histocompatibility Antigens Class I/genetics* ; Humans ; Mutation ; Receptors, Transferrin/genetics*

Iron homeostasis plays an important role for the maintenance of human health. It is known that iron metabolism is tightly regulated by several key genes, including divalent metal transport-1(), transferrin receptor 1(), transferrin receptor 2(), ferroportin(), hepcidin(), hemojuvelin() and . Recently, it is reported that DNA methylation, histone acetylation, and microRNA (miRNA) epigenetically regulated iron homeostasis. Among these epigenetic regulators, DNA hypermethylation of the promoter region of , and bone morphogenetic protein 6 () genes result in inhibitory effect on the expression of these iron-related gene. In addition, histone deacetylase (HADC) suppresses gene expression. On the contrary, HADC inhibitor upregulates gene expression. Additional reports showed that miRNA can also modulate iron absorption, transport, storage and utilization via downregulation of and other genes. It is noteworthy that some key epigenetic regulatory enzymes, such as DNA demethylase TET2 and histone lysine demethylase JmjC KDMs, require iron for the enzymatic activities. In this review, we summarize the recent progress of DNA methylation, histone acetylation and miRNA in regulating iron metabolism and also discuss the future research directions.
Epigenesis, Genetic ; Gene Expression Regulation ; genetics ; Homeostasis ; Humans ; Iron ; metabolism ; Receptors, Transferrin

transferrin saturation (TSAT).CONCLUSION: Although the relationship was not cause-and-effect, increased RWT was independently associated with high serum hepcidin, particularly in women and patients with low TSAT. The relationship between cardiac geometry and serum hepcidin in CKD patients needs to be confirmed in future studies.]]>
Anemia ; Comorbidity ; Female ; Hepcidins ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Logistic Models ; Metabolism ; Miners ; Prospective Studies ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic ; Transferrin

OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to evaluate hematological disorders and the orchestrating roles of hepcidin and IL-6 in rat models of thioacetamide (TAA) and carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) hepatotoxicity. METHODS: Rats were intraperitoneally injected with TAA (10 mg/100 g rat weight dissolved in isosaline) or CCl4 (100 μL/100 g rat weight diluted as 1:4 in corn oil) twice weekly for eight consecutive weeks to induce subchronic liver fibrosis. Blood and tissue samples were collected and analyzed. RESULTS: CCl4 but not TAA significantly decreased the RBCs, Hb, PCV, and MCV values with minimal alterations in other erythrocytic indices. Both hepatotoxins showed leukocytosis, granulocytosis, and thrombocytopenia. By the end of the experiment, the erythropoietin level increased in the CCl4 model. The serum iron, UIBC, TIBC, transferrin saturation%, and serum transferrin concentration values significantly decreased, whereas that of ferritin increased in the CCl4 model. TAA increased the iron parameters toward iron overload. RT-PCR analysis revealed increased expression of hepatic hepcidin and IL-6 mRNAs in the CCl4 model and suppressed hepcidin expression without significant effect on IL-6 in the TAA model. CONCLUSION These data suggest differences driven by hepcidin and IL-6 expression between CCl4 and TAA liver fibrosis models and are of clinical importance for diagnosis and therapeutics of liver diseases.
Animals ; Blood Chemical Analysis ; Carbon Tetrachloride ; toxicity ; Hepcidins ; pharmacology ; Injections, Intraperitoneal ; Interleukin-6 ; pharmacology ; Iron ; blood ; metabolism ; Leukocytosis ; chemically induced ; therapy ; Liver Cirrhosis ; chemically induced ; therapy ; Male ; Rats ; Thioacetamide ; toxicity ; Thrombocytopenia ; chemically induced ; therapy ; Transferrin ; metabolism

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical significance of inflammatory biomarkers in acute infectious diarrhea among children. METHODS: Clinical parameters including fever, bacterial and viral etiology based on stool culture and multiplex polymerase chain reaction, and nine biomarkers including C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and leukocytes in blood and calprotectin, lactoferrin, myeloperoxidase, polymorphonuclear elastase, leukocytes, and occult blood in feces were evaluated in children who were hospitalized due to acute diarrhea without underlying disease. RESULTS: A total of 62 patients were included. Among these patients, 33 had fever, 18 showed bacterial infections, and 40 patients were infected with 43 viruses. Of all the biomarkers, CRP was significantly correlated with fever (p<0.001). CRP, ESR, calprotectin, lactoferrin, myeloperoxidase, fecal leukocytes, and occult blood were significantly associated with infection with bacterial pathogens (p<0.001, p=0.04, p=0.03, p=0.003, p=0.02, p=0.03, p=0.002, respectively). The combination of CRP and fecal lactoferrin at their best cut-off values (13.7 mg/L and 22.8 µg/mL, respectively) yielded a sensitivity of 72.2%, and a specificity of 95.5% for bacterial etiology compared with their individual use. CONCLUSION: Blood CRP is a useful diagnostic marker for both fever and bacterial etiology in acute pediatric diarrhea. The combination of CRP and fecal lactoferrin yields better diagnostic capability for bacterial etiology than their use alone for acute diarrhea in children without underlying gastrointestinal disease.
Bacterial Infections ; Biomarkers ; Blood Sedimentation ; C-Reactive Protein ; Child ; Diarrhea ; Feces ; Fever ; Gastrointestinal Diseases ; Humans ; Lactoferrin ; Leukocyte L1 Antigen Complex ; Leukocytes ; Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Occult Blood ; Pancreatic Elastase ; Peroxidase ; Sensitivity and Specificity