Properties and Prospects of Application of the Whey Protein Lactoferrin in Medicine and Veterinary Medicine (Review)

Introduction. Lactoferrin is a biologically active substance, a natural glycoprotein from the group of iron-containing proteins, transferrin. This article is devoted to a review of the literature data on the properties and prospects for the use of lactoferrin in medicine and veterinary medicine.

Text. The problem of widespread use of lactoferrin is the need to use a large volume of raw materials, the difficulty of extracting it from agricultural raw materials and subsequent purification. In this view, at present, it is very promising to use transgenic animals to obtain such a valuable compound in the required volume. Discovered in 1939 in cow's milk, lactoferrin exhibits a wide spectrum of biological activity, new properties of this protein are constantly being established. The most studied are the immunomodulatory effects, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antiviral, antifungal activities of lactoferrin, and the search for the possibility of using this compound for the treatment and prevention of the new coronavirus infection SARS-CoV-2, as well as for the prevention of postCOVID complications, has begun. In recent years, the antitumor activity of lactoferrin has been actively studied, as well as the prospects for its use as a biomarker for early diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases. Lactoferrin can play a special role in the delivery of drugs to target organs, as well as in the manufacture of functional food products and various drugs for both humans and animals.

Conclusion. Thus, the performed theoretical study and the data obtained on a wide spectrum of biological activity of lactoferrin confirm the prospects and expediency of the development of formulations and technology of drugs, functional food products, veterinary drugs and animal products based on lactoferrin.

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