American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 62, 412-416, Copyright © 1995 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc

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Effects of low-copper diets on human immune response

DS Kelley, PA Daudu, PC Taylor, BE Mackey and JR Turnlund
United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Presidio of San Francisco, CA 94129, USA.

We examined the effects of low-copper diets on indexes of immune response of 11 healthy men (aged 21-32 y) during a 90-d metabolic suite study. Daily copper intake for the first 24 d, next 42 d, and the last 24 d of the study was 0.66, 0.38, and 2.49 mg, respectively. Feeding the diet with 0.38 mg Cu/d was associated with a significant (P < or = 0.05) decrease in the proliferation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells cultured with phytohemagglutinin, Concanavalin A, or pokeweed, and an increase in the percentage of circulating B cells (CD 19+), but had no effect on the concentration of serum interleukin 2 receptor, the percentage of peripheral monocytes, neutrophils, CD3+, CD4+, or CD8+ T cells; or on the neutrophil phagocytic activity. Feeding 2.49 mg Cu/d for 24 d prevented further decreases in the indexes affected by the low- copper diet but did not restore them to the prestudy concentrations, even though plasma copper and ceruloplasmin concentrations were restored to normal.

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