FIG. 9.

ROS interfere with iron metabolism and iron availability to pathogens residing in different tissues and cell compartments. ROS promote hepcidin secretion by activation of the stat3 pathway in hepatocytes and releases iron from ferritin, increasing the labile iron pool and propagating oxidative stress. The presence of ferroportin-1 (Fpn-1) in cellular membrane is inhibited by hepcidin. Some pathogens that reside in cytosol scavenge ferritin for iron, others degrade heme, but some pathogens feed on the labile iron pool. To see this illustration in color, the reader is referred to the web version of this article at www.liebertpub.com/ars