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Role of iodine in delayed immune response.
In this letter to the Israel Journal of Medical Sciences, the authors explain that in order to study the relationship between iodine intake and immune response they studied a population of 607 children, aged 6 to 10 years, living in an area where goitre was endemic. 48% of these children had a goitre. 215 of the children took Lugol’s solution (2 drops per week) for 8 months, and the remaining 392 did not. Immune response was assessed by means of skin testing with tetanus toxoid. If the diameter of the induration was at least 5 mm the response was classed as positive. Diameter of induration was significantly larger among those who had taken iodine than in those who did not. The authors conclude that adequate iodine intake is necessary for a normal delayed immune response.


Role of iodine in delayed immune response. [Iodine and delayed immunity].
[Article in Italian]
Marani L, Venturi S.
Minerva Med. 1986 May 7;77(19):805-9.

Abstract. Iodine was and is sometimes used therapeutically in various pathologies where the immune mechanism is known to play a dominant role. It has in fact been administered to patients with tubercular granulomatous, lepromatous, syphilitic and mycotic lesions where it facilitates cure. This effect does not depend on iodine's action on the micro-organism responsible. Iodine may also be used in Villanova-Panol Panniculitis, in erythema nodosum, in nodular vasculitis, erythema multiforme and Sweet's syndrome.

Oral iodine is also very effective in the lymphatic-cutaneous form of sporotrichosis. In order to establish a relationship between dietary iodine and immune response, 607 infants residing in an area of endemic goitre were studied: 215 were given Lugol solution (2 drops a week for about 8 months) and 392 not.

The immune response was assessed by the skin test method using tetanic toxoid and a clear correlation was shown between this and lymphocyte stimulation and monocytic chemotaxis tests. The test was considered positive when an infiltration of at least 5 mm in diameter was shown after 48 hours (in the U.S. 80% of paediatric cases aged 2-10 years old were positive).

A significant difference was noted in the average diameter of the infiltrations after the tetanic toxoid skin test in the two groups considered (P less than 0.001). The results appear to indicate that an adequate iodine intake is necessary for normal retarded immune response. The molecular mechanism by which iodine increases immune response is still to be decided.

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