Group of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre Research Institute (imas12), Madrid, Spain.
Network Center for Biomedical Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED), Madrid, Spain.
Front Immunol. 2022 Apr 25;13:878201. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.878201. eCollection 2022.
Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) (COVID-19) causes severe acute respiratory syndrome. Severe illness of COVID-19 largely occurs in older people and recent evidence indicates that demented patients have higher risk for COVID-19. Additionally, COVID-19 further enhances the vulnerability of older adults with cognitive damage. A balance between the immune and inflammatory response is necessary to control the infection. Thus, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory drugs are hopeful therapeutic agents for the treatment of COVID-19. Accumulating evidence suggests that lactoferrin (Lf) is active against SARS-CoV-2, likely due to its potent antiviral and anti-inflammatory actions that ultimately improves immune system responses. Remarkably, salivary Lf levels are significantly reduced in different Alzheimer's disease (AD) stages, which may reflect AD-related immunological disturbances, leading to reduced defense mechanisms against viral pathogens and an increase of the COVID-19 susceptibility. Overall, there is an urgent necessity to protect AD patients against COVID-19, decreasing the risk of viral infections. In this context, we propose bovine Lf (bLf) as a promising preventive therapeutic tool to minimize COVID-19 risk in patients with dementia or AD.
新型冠状病毒 2 型（SARS-CoV2）（COVID-19）可引起严重急性呼吸系统综合征。COVID-19 的严重疾病主要发生在老年人中，最近的证据表明痴呆患者感染 COVID-19 的风险更高。此外，COVID-19 进一步增加了认知受损的老年人的脆弱性。需要在免疫和炎症反应之间取得平衡，以控制感染。因此，抗菌和抗炎药物是治疗 COVID-19 的有希望的治疗剂。越来越多的证据表明乳铁蛋白（Lf）对 SARS-CoV-2 具有活性，可能是由于其强大的抗病毒和抗炎作用，最终改善了免疫系统的反应。值得注意的是，在不同的阿尔茨海默病（AD）阶段唾液 Lf 水平显著降低，这可能反映了 AD 相关的免疫紊乱，导致针对病毒病原体的防御机制减少，以及 COVID-19 易感性增加。总的来说，迫切需要保护 AD 患者免受 COVID-19 的侵害，降低病毒感染的风险。在这种情况下，我们提出牛乳铁蛋白（bLf）作为一种有前途的预防治疗工具，以降低痴呆或 AD 患者感染 COVID-19 的风险。
