LTF and infection: In response to infection, the innate immune system orchestrates a systemic reduction in the iron levels and bioavailability by inhibiting the dietary uptake of iron and its export into circulation, increasing the level of heme- and ferric- binding proteins in the serum, and releasing apo-lactoferrin into the infection site (Johnson and Wessling-Resnick, 2012; Ganz and Nemeth, 2015; Knutson, 2017).