THE PROSPECTS FOR APPLICATION OF LACTOFERRIN AND ITS DERIVATIVES IN THE TREATMENT OF CANCER
Annually more than 250 thousand deaths from malignant diseases are registered in Russia and 8 million - in the world. The effectiveness of traditional methods of treatment, as well as of monoclonal antibodies and gene therapy is limited in the case of resistant forms of cancer and hard to reach tumors. Lactoferrin (LF) is a universal protein with anticancer activity and cross-species biocompatibility, which modulates the immune response and the redox/antioxidant system. Due to the ability to interact not only with specific receptors, but also with signaling and endocytosis receptors, TLR on various cell types, LF can overcome tissue barriers. The therapeutic efficacy of lactoferrin, its cleavage products, and synthetic peptides against various types of malignant proliferation was demonstrated with in vivo and in vitro models. The prospects of using LF as an adjuvant before chemotherapy and radiotherapy and as a carrier for gene therapy of cancer were experimentally demonstrated. However, the results of clinical studies are few and require further study.