Mattar Ehab H, Elrashdy Fatma, Almehdar Hussein A, Uversky Vladimir N, Redwan Elrashdy M
Biological Science Department, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Department of Endemic Medicine and Hepatogastroenterology, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
PeerJ. 2021 Apr 14;9:e11303. doi: 10.7717/peerj.11303. eCollection 2021.
The world population is still facing the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Such a challenge requires complicated tools to control, namely vaccines, effective cures, and complementary agents. Here we present one candidate for the role of an effective cure and/or complementary agent: lactoferrin. It is the cross-talking mediator between many organs/cellular systems in the body. It serves as a physiological, immunological, and anti-microbial barrier, and acts as a regulator molecule. Furthermore, lactoferrin has receptors on most tissues cells, and is a rich source for bioactive peptides, particularly in the digestive system. In the past months, in vitro and in vivo evidence has accumulated regarding lactoferrin's ability to control SARS-CoV-2 infectivity in different indicated scenarios. Also, lactoferrin or whey milk (of human or other mammal's origin) is a cheap, easily available, and safe agent, the use of which can produce promising results. Pharmaceutical and/or food supplementary formulas of lactoferrin could be particularly effective in controlling the gastrointestinal COVID-19-associated symptoms and could limit the fecal-oral viral infection transmission, through mechanisms that mimic that of norovirus infection control by lactoferrin via induction of intestinal innate immunity. This natural avenue may be effective not only in symptomatic patients, but could also be more helpful in asymptomatic patients as a main or adjuvant treatment.
世界人口仍面临着新冠疫情的第二波冲击。应对这一挑战需要复杂的手段，即疫苗、有效治疗方法和辅助药物。在此，我们提出一种有望成为有效治疗药物和/或辅助药物的候选物质：乳铁蛋白。它是人体许多器官/细胞系统之间的相互交流介质。它可作为一种生理、免疫和抗菌屏障，并充当调节分子。此外，乳铁蛋白在大多数组织细胞上都有受体，且是生物活性肽的丰富来源，尤其是在消化系统中。在过去几个月里，关于乳铁蛋白在不同指定情况下控制新型冠状病毒感染性的能力，体外和体内证据都在不断积累。而且，乳铁蛋白或（人源或其他哺乳动物来源的）乳清是一种廉价、易于获取且安全的物质，使用它可能会产生有前景的结果。乳铁蛋白的药物和/或食品补充配方在控制与新冠相关的胃肠道症状方面可能特别有效，并且通过模拟乳铁蛋白通过诱导肠道先天免疫来控制诺如病毒感染的机制，可能会限制粪口病毒感染传播。这种天然途径不仅对有症状的患者可能有效，但作为主要或辅助治疗手段，对无症状患者可能也更有帮助。
