Promotion of Long-Term Administration of Exogenous Lactoferrin on Immune Responses in Ovalbumin-Sensitized BALB/c Mice

Li-Han Chen ； Yi-Ting Lin ； Chung-Tiang Liang ； Chih-Chieh Hsu ； Hung-Wei Tang ； Hui-Yu Huang

《Adaptive Medicine》 7卷2期 (2015/06) Pp. 90-96

https://doi.org/10.4247/AM.2015.ABF110

並列摘要

Lactoferrin is an 80-kDa protein binding Fe cations with high affinity and is present in milk as well as other exocrine secretions in mammals. In recent years, lactoferrin has been reported to have multiple physiological functions such as antimicrobial, anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory properties. The aim of the present study was to examine the immune response contributed by long term oral lactoferrin in ovalbumin (OVA)-sensitized BALB/c mice. A total of forty BALB/c mice were equally categorized into four groups including the control group (administrated normal saline), and the groups administrated different doses of lactoferrin (0.5×, 0.62 g/kg/day; 1×, 1.24 g/kg/day; and 2.5×, 3.1 g/kg/day). The mice were orally administered normal saline or lactoferrin for 8 weeks, and OVA was injected at the 2nd, 4th and 6th weeks. The immunomodulatory properties of lactoferrin were analyzed by determining the subtype populations of splenocytes and immunoglobulin, and the concentration of Th cytokine secreted by splenocyte following Con A or OVA stimulation ex vivo at the 8th week. Moreover, the levels of serum antibodies were detected at 0, 3rd and 7th weeks. The results showed that orally administered lactoferrin significantly enhanced the number of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, and matural killer (NK) and Treg cells. The production of Th1 cellderived cytokines (IFN-γ and IL-2) was increased in Con A-stimulated splenocyte but an increase was not observed in Th2-derived cytokines (IL-4 and IL-5). Furthermore, the levels of IgA, IgG, and IgG_(2a) were also elevated, while the level of IgG_1 decreased in the serum. The results of the present study suggest that long-term oral lactoferrin might confer advantages in immunomodulation to help combat not only infection but also inflammation disease.

並列關鍵字

immunomodulation ； lactoferrin ； long term oral administration ； OVA sanitized mice ； Th1 bias