Journal
FEMS IMMUNOLOGY AND MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY
Volume 37, Issue 1, Pages 45-51Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/S0928-8244(03)00109-3
Keywords
apotransferrin; Staphylococcus epidermidis; non-transferrin-bound iron; transferrin saturation; stem cell transplantation; opportunistic bacterium
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We investigated the effect of free, non-transferrin-bound iron occurring in haematological stem cell transplant patients on growth of Staphylococcus epidermidis in serum in vitro, and prevention of bacterial growth by exogenous apotransferrin. S. epidermidis did not grow in normal serum at inoculated bacterial densities up to 10(3) cfu ml(-1) but slow growth could be detected at higher initial inocula. Addition of free iron abolished the growth-inhibitory effect of serum, whereas addition of apotransferrin again restored it. Appearance of free iron and loss of growth inhibition coincided in patient serum samples taken daily during myeloablative therapy. Intravenously administered apotransferrin effectively bound free iron and restored the growth inhibition in patient sera. The results suggest that exogenous apotransferrin might protect stem cell transplant patients against infections by S. epidermidis and possibly other opportunistic pathogens. (C) 2003 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
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