TABLE 3.
Main effects of lactoferrin oral administration in the prevention and management of viral infections
| Author, year | Treatment | Prevention | Management | Side effects | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virological Response | Immunological response | Symptom assessment | Other | ||||||
| Caliciviridae | |||||||||
| Ochoa, 2013 | Group I: 0.5 g bLF/day; Group II: placebo | No difference in diarrhoea incidence | NA | NA | Decrease in duration and severity of symptoms | NA | NA | ||
| Coronaviridae | |||||||||
| Serrano, 2020 | Group I: 20–30 mg bLF/day + zinc; Group II: 20–30 mg bLF/day | NA | NA | NA | Improvement in the main symptoms in both groups | NA | None | ||
| Campione, 2020 (pre‐print) | Group I: 1 g bLF/day; Group II: standard of care treatment; Group III: No therapy control group: Healthy volunteers | NA | Significant decrease in median time length of rRT‐PCR SARS‐CoV‐2 RNA negative conversion (Group I vs. Group II, and Group I vs. Group III) | Significant decrease in IL‐6 and D‐Dimer levels in Group I; non‐significant decrease in TNF‐⍺ in Group I non‐significant increase in IL‐10 level in Group I non‐significant difference in adrenomedullin level in group I | Significant decrease in duration of symptoms (Group I vs. Group II, and Group I vs. Group III) | Significant decrease in ferritin level in Group I non‐significant difference in serum iron and transferrin levels in Group I | Minor | ||
| Retroviridae | |||||||||
| Zuccotti, 2006 | Group I: 3 g bLF/day without ARV therapy; Group II: 3 g bLF/day + RTI based therapy a ; Group II: 3 g bLF/day + HAART therapy b | NA | Significant decline in viral load during the bLF administration in groups I and II, but non‐significant comparing the two groups | Significant increase in CD4+ cell percentage during the bLF administration in group I and II, but significantly higher in Group II; non‐significant difference in absolute CD4+ cell count in any group | None | NA | None | ||
| Zuccotti, 2007 | Group I: 3 g bLF/day | NA | No change in viral load | Skewing of T‐lymphocytes towards more differentiated subpopulations; no significant change in absolute CD4+ and CD8+ cell count; Improvement in phagocytosis, killing, TLR‐2 expression and IL‐12/IL‐10 ratio | NA | NA | NA | ||
| Sortino, 2019 | Group I: 1.5 g rh‐LF/day; Group II: placebo | NA | NA | Non‐significant difference in inflammatory or immunologic outcomes | Non‐significant difference in HIV related symptoms | Significant increase in transferrin saturation; non‐significant difference in intestinal microbiotical effects | Non‐significant difference | ||
| Reoviridae | |||||||||
| Egashira, 2007 | Group I: 100 mg bLF/day; Group II: Placebo | Non‐significant difference in gastroenteritis' incidence | NA | NA | Significant decrease in the frequency and duration of symptoms | NA | NA | ||
| Yen, 2011 | Group I: 70–80 mg bLF/day; Group II: placebo | Non‐significant difference in gastroenteritis' incidence | NA | Non‐significant difference in the IFN‐gamma and IL‐10 levels between two groups | Non‐significant difference | NA | NA | ||
Abbreviations: ARV, antiretroviral; bLF, bovine lactoferrin; HAART, highly active antiretroviral therapy; IL, interleukin; NA, not assessed; NRTI, nucleoside reverse‐transcriptase inhibitor; RTIs, reverse‐transcriptase inhibitor; rh‐LF, recombinant human lactoferrin.
a
Antiretroviral therapy based on two NRTIs or one NRTI plus one non‐NNRTI.
b
Triple antiretroviral therapy regimen including two NRTIs and one protease inhibitor.