Utility of Lactoferrin as an Adjunct Therapeutic Agent for COVID-19
Status:
Not yet recruiting
Trial end date:
2020-11-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
There is currently no clinically proven specific antiviral agent available for SARS-CoV-2
infection. Supportive treatment, including oxygen therapy, remains the most important
management strategy.
Since its discovery, lactoferrin and its related peptides are mainly considered to be
important non-specific host defense molecules against a broad range of viruses including
SARS-CoV, which is closely related to SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19. Lactoferrin has been
found to experimentally inhibit viral entry in murine coronavirus, and human coronaviruses
hCOV-NL63 and pseudotyped SARS-CoV. Besides reducing viral entry, lactoferrin can also
suppress virus replication after the viral entry.
Another major aspect of lactoferrin bioactivity relates to its immunomodulatory and
anti-inflammatory functions. Current thinking suggests that mortality from COVID-19 is not
simply due to viral infection but is a result of a cytokine storm associated with
hyper-inflammation leading to acute respiratory distress and subsequent mortality. A cytokine
profile in severe COVID-19 cases is characterized by increases in cytokines and acute phase
reactants and ferritin. In this regard, lactoferrin was demonstrated to reduce IL-6, TNF a,
and downregulate ferritin in experimental settings simulating sepsis.
In this study, we aim to study the potential application of lactoferrin against SARS-CoV-2
and propose the possibility of using different doses of supplemental lactoferrin as a
potential adjunct treatment for COVID-19.