Joanna Słoka, Barbara Strzałka-Mrozik

Anticancer potential of bovine lactoferrin in colorectal and other cancers – a brief overview
2023-08-24

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the world, and thus constitutes a serious medical challenge. Due to the high mortality and also the large number of recurrences of the disease, great emphasis is placed on the screening of people from high risk groups as well as the use of chemopreventive agents in chronic inflammation of the intestine. Chemoprevention is an early intervention to decrease the risk of cancer development. The term chemoprevention originated in 1976 and is explained as “use of a synthetic or natural substance to decrease the risk of cancer developing, delay the time of cancer onset, or to reverse the carcinogenesis process.” Lactoferrin (Lf) is a glycoprotein and a member of the transferrin family. It is able to reversibly bind iron ions, thus participating in maintaining iron homeostasis in the body. Lf mainly appears in the milk of most mammals, but also occurs in different biological fluids like tears, saliva, mucus and bronchial secretions. Lactoferrin is a multipotent molecule which exerts animicrobial, antiviral, antiparasitic and antifungal activity. Moreover, Lf has  anti-inflammatory, immune regulatory and anticancer properties. Lf increases the ability of the immune system to eliminate cancer cells, thus preventing cancer development. Lf treatment was also found to be efficient in inhibiting proliferation, migration and survival of cancer cells. The present paper aims to review the molecular basis of lactoferrin chemopreventive effect in colorectal and other cancers. Bovine lactoferrin (bLf) acts both to stimulate an immunological anticancer response and also acts directly through inducing cell cycle arrest, apoptosis and inhibition cell migration. Moreover Lf boosts the effect of chemotherapy and  alleviates its side effects. Finally, Lf is a nutraceutical characterized by high selectivity toward cancer cells and simultaneously has a high safety profile. It has considerable potential in the fight against CRC and other cancers in both prevention and treatment.

Keywords: lactoferrin, colorectal cancer, chemoprevention.

© Farm Pol, 2023, 79(3): 179–184