The therapeutic effect of bovine lactoferrin in the host infected with Helicobacter pylori.
BACKGROUND
It remains unclarified whether bovine lactoferrin (bLF) can exert a therapeutic effect on the host infected with Helicobacter pylori.


METHODS
Germfree BALB/c mice were orally inoculated with H. pylori to induce infection. Three weeks after infection the mice were given bLF orally once daily for 2 or 4 weeks and were then killed to examine the bacterial number in the stomach and the serum antibody titer to H. pylori. To count the number of epithelium-bound H. pylori, the resected stomach was agitated in phosphate-buffered saline to remove non-bound H. pylori before bacterial enumeration.


RESULTS
The administration of 10 mg bLF for 3 to 4 weeks decreased the number of H. pylori in the stomach to one-tenth and also exerted a significant inhibitory effect on the attachment of H. pylori to the stomach. As a result, the serum antibody titer to H. pylori, whose level is presumed to represent the size of the immune response by the host, thereby reflecting the degree of bacterial attack, decreased to an undetectable level.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that bLF exerts an inhibitory effect on colonizing H. pylori by detaching the bacterium from the gastric epithelium and by exerting a direct anti-bacterial effect.
Wada
T
T
Dept. of Infectious Diseases, Tokai University School of Medicine, Kanagawa, Japan.
Aiba
Y
Y
Shimizu
K
K
Takagi
A
A
Miwa
T
T
Koga
Y
Y
D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005756:Gastritis / Q000382:microbiology*; D005856:Germ-Free Life; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000187:drug effects; D007781:Lactoferrin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C
D007781:Lactoferrin