Protective Effects of Lactoferrin against SARS-CoV-2 Infection In Vitro.
Claudio SalarisMelania ScarpaMarina ElliAlice BertoliniSimone GuglielmettiFabrizio Ernesto PregliascoCorrado BlandizziPaola BrunIgnazio CastagliuoloPublished in: Nutrients (2021)
SARS-CoV-2 is a newly emerging virus that currently lacks curative treatments. Lactoferrin (LF) is a naturally occurring non-toxic glycoprotein with broad-spectrum antiviral, immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory effects. In this study, we assessed the potential of LF in the prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro. Antiviral immune response gene expression was analyzed by qRT-PCR in uninfected Caco-2 intestinal epithelial cells treated with LF. An infection assay for SARS-CoV-2 was performed in Caco-2 cells treated or not with LF. SARS-CoV-2 titer was determined by qRT-PCR, plaque assay and immunostaining. Inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokine production was determined by qRT-PCR. LF significantly induced the expression of IFNA1, IFNB1, TLR3, TLR7, IRF3, IRF7 and MAVS genes. Furthermore, LF partially inhibited SARS-CoV-2 infection and replication in Caco-2 intestinal epithelial cells. Our in vitro data support LF as an immune modulator of the antiviral immune response with moderate effects against SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Keyphrases
- sars cov
- respiratory syndrome coronavirus
- immune response
- gene expression
- toll like receptor
- dendritic cells
- coronavirus disease
- anti inflammatory
- inflammatory response
- induced apoptosis
- high throughput
- poor prognosis
- hiv infected
- oxidative stress
- high glucose
- electronic health record
- signaling pathway
- long non coding rna
- high intensity
- drug induced
- data analysis
- endothelial cells
- single cell
- genome wide
- cell death
- binding protein
- recombinant human
- genome wide identification
- artificial intelligence
- bioinformatics analysis