Role of Lactoferrin in Metabolic Diseases

Dear Colleagues,

Obesity is a worldwide epidemic that has resulted in a critical increase in the incidence of metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, arterial hypertension, ischemic heart disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and some types of cancer, contributing to the overall burden of disease worldwide. Lactoferrin, which is mainly produced by neutrophils and glandular epithelial cells, is a pleiotropic glycoprotein of the innate immune system that displays anti-inflammatory activities and modulates the innate immune system and iron metabolism. Recent studies have demonstrated important roles of lactoferrin modulating metabolic processes in adipose tissue, liver and bone. In vitro experiments have demonstrated that lactoferrin improves insulin action, glucose uptake, and adipogenesis in adipocytes and increases osteogenesis in osteoblasts. Important metabolic effects of lactoferrin have been also demonstrated in human hepatocytes. Experiments in mice indicated that lactoferrin administration significantly decreases body weight and body fat percentage, adipocyte size and inflammation, and liver lipid accumulation and improves glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity and bone health, suggesting positive effects in obesity-associated metabolic disturbances and in the prevention of osteoporosis. In line with these data, a double-blind, placebo-controlled study in humans reported that bovine lactoferrin (300 mg/day) administration for 8 weeks resulted in significant decreases in body mass index (BMI), visceral fat area, and waist circumference. Furthermore, human cross-sectional studies have shown that plasma lactoferrin concentration significantly decreases in association with obesity, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and type 2 diabetes. Even though observational studies have shown some controversial data, human clinical trials testing the effects of lactoferrin in metabolic diseases are scarce.

In this Special Issue of Biomolecules titled “The Role of Lactoferrin in Metabolic Diseases” we aim to explore the molecular mechanisms that underlie the metabolic effects of lactoferrin in depth and to translate data from mice experiments to human clinical trials.

Dr. José María Moreno-Navarrete
Guest Editor

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• lactoferrin
• obesity
• type 2 diabetes
• osteoporosis
• non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
• insulin resistance