The Therapeutic Effect of Bovine Lactoferrin in the Host Infected with Helicobacter pylori

Abstract

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 reprsent 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.