Antiparasitic and Immunomodulatory Potential of Oral Nanocapsules Encapsulated Lactoferrin Protein Against Plasmodium Berghei

Abstract

Aim: To analyze the effect of native buffalo lactoferrin (buLf) protein along with its nanoformulation using alginate-enclosed, chitosan-conjugated, calcium phosphate buffalo Lf nanocapsules (AEC-CCo-CP-buLf NCs) against rodent parasite Plasmodium berghei. Materials & methods: BALB/c mice were infected with malaria parasite and efficacy of the proteins (buLf and NCs) was evaluated by measuring parasitemia, initialization, role of miRNA in absorption of NCs, parasite load by histopathology and quantitative determination, cytokine levels, bioavailability and immunohistochemistry to localize Lf protein. Results: NCs significantly reduced the parasite load in mice compared with buLf and untreated group. NCs were found to be modulating the disease profile of mice as shown by immunohistochemistry, free radical ion production and higher survival tendency. Conclusion: Our study confirms that NCs internalized and changed the expression of miRNAs that further enhanced their uptake in various organs leading to inhibitory effect against the parasite as well as maintenance of the Fe metabolism.

Keywords::

• encapsulation
• lactoferrin
• miRNA
• nanocapsules
• Plasmodium berghei

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Corrigendum

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank C Singh and G Bhatti for expert technical assistance in chromatography, histopathology and light microscopy.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors would like to thank the Australia-India Strategic Research Fund (AISRF), Department of Biotechnology-India (BT/PR/12672/ICD/55/10/2009) (AISRF, BF030016, BF060042) for financial support. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

The authors state that they have obtained appropriate institutional review board approval or have followed the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki for all human or animal experimental investigations. In addition, for investigations involving human subjects, informed consent has been obtained from the participants involved.

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to thank the Australia-India Strategic Research Fund (AISRF), Department of Biotechnology-India (BT/PR/12672/ICD/55/10/2009) (AISRF, BF030016, BF060042) for financial support. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.