Table 1.

Zinc and Immune Cell Functions

Cell Type	Comment	References
Macrophages	MT-knockout results in defects in phagocytosis and antigen presentation	[73]
Dendritic cells	Zinc induces maturation and increases surface MHCII	[70]
NK cells	Zinc increases cytotoxicity and restores IFN-γ production	[50,52,61]
NKT cells	Zinc release from MTs in limited during chronic stress. Stress and inflammation induce MT gene expression, further sequestering zinc	[31,66,67]
iNKT cells	Cells lacking PLZF lack innate cytotoxicity and do not secrete IL-4 and IFN-γ	[68]
CD4 thymocytes	Zinc deficiency elevates glucocorticoid levels, causing apoptosis and reduced numbers of thymocytes	[52,57]
CD4 helper T cells	Zinc deficiency shifts Th1 to Th2 response via altered cytokine release	[10,48,56,176]
CD8 thymocytes	Zinc deficiency results in reduced numbers of thymocytes due glucocorticoid-induced apoptosis	[48,52]
T cells	Zinc deficiency results in decreased function due reduced biologically active thymulin	[53-55]
T reg	?
Mast cells	Required for IL-6 and TNF-α production	[71,72]