Description
Despite the prevalence and recognition of its detrimental impact, clinical complications of sepsis remain a major challenge. Here, we investigated the effects of myeloid ferritin heavy chain (FtH) in regulating the pathogenic sequelae of sepsis. We demonstrate that deletion of myeloid FtH leads to tolerance towards sepsis as evidenced by reduced serum cytokine levels, multi-organ dysfunction and subsequent mortality. We identified that such tolerance is predominantly mediated by the compensatory increase in circulating ferritin (ferritin light chain; FtL) in the absence of myeloid FtH. Our in vitro and in vivo studies indicate that prior exposure to ferritin provides significant tolerance to the septic process by restraining an otherwise dysregulated response to infection. These findings are mediated by an inhibitory action of ferritin on NF-?B activation and its downstream effects. Taken together, our findings suggest an essential immunomodulatory function for circulating ferritin and enhances our understanding of this acute phase reactant. Overall design: Total RNA were isolated from blood leukocytes of wild type FtH mice and Myeloid deficient FtH mice following sham and CLP surgery. Three biological replicates were considered for each genotype and surgery type.