An increased expression of Lcn2 by macrophages along with reduced intramacrophage iron content and impaired bone morphogenetic signaling may be largely responsible for the reduced susceptibility of Hfe-/- mice, a model for hereditary hemochromatosis, against infection with the intracellular bacteria Salmonella and Mycobacteria (Olakanmi et al., 2007; Corradini et al., 2009; Nairz et al., 2009b), which may also be a reason of the high penetrance of this genes in people of Northern and Western European origin (Pietrangelo, 2004). The gene discussed is LCN2; the disease is infection.