Lactoferrin essentially acts as an immunity booster and could greatly improve the body's ability to fight viruses and bacteria. Illustrative image: Tyrone Siu / Reuters
Russian scientists have created a drug based on a protein present in breast milk after observing that COVID-19 affects babies less than other segments of the population and suggest that this type of drug could help in the fight against the coronavirus , according to the researchers in an interview with the portal News.ru.
It is a protein called lactoferrin that is immunomodulatory, that is, it affects the body's immune system. Specialists developed a drug based on neolactoferrin, composed of a mixture of 90% biosimilars of human lactoferrin and 10% of natural goat lactoferrin.
"We have seen very few isolated cases of babies contracting the coronavirus among millions of those infected," said Igor Goldman, principal investigator at the Institute of Gene Biology at the Russian Academy of Sciences. This phenomenon gave his team an idea to test lactoferrin, a protein contained in breast milk that protects babies' undeveloped immune systems against bacteria and viruses.
Lactoferrin acts essentially as an immunity booster and could greatly improve the body's ability to fight viruses and bacteria in adults as well, scientists say.
"The scientific platform for the possibility of using this protein to fight viral infection is based on a decade of research on neolactoferrin carried out in conjunction with the Institute of Immunology," says Goldman.
Russian scientists believe that neolactoferrin-based drugs could fight COVID-19 by stimulating patients' natural and adaptive immunity. They could also theoretically protect healthy people against infection and potentially act similar to a vaccine. This is because lactoferrin prevents viruses from attaching to cells and reproducing.
Neolactoferrin has antimicrobial, antiviral, and antifungal properties and even helps against antibiotic-resistant pathogens, Goldman notes.
Oral irrigation with a liquid containing neolactoferrin could be an effective barrier against the virus, while a pill with this protein could prevent the development of bacterial complications, experts believe.
However, so far it is too early to say how effective the new drug will be in fighting coronavirus, immunologist Vladimir Bolibok warns, adding that more tests are needed. The researchers sent some samples of the drugs to conduct the initial trials, which were supported by the Russian Federal Biomedical Agency.
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