Physicochemical properties of lactoferrin under oxidative/halogenative stress

Abstract

Lactoferrin (Lf) was discovered in the thirties of the twentieth century. Since that time a number of useful properties of Lf (antibacterial, antiviral, pro- and anti-inflammatory, etc.) have been found. That’s why Lf became a promising candidate for pharmaceuticals use. The concentration of Lf strikingly increases in inflammatory focuses due to neutrophil degranulation. At the same time, activated neutrophils starts to generate reactive oxygen and halogen species (ROS and RHS), which leads to the development of oxidative/halogenative stress. In this work, using the fluorescence analysis we found the change of the Lf structure and properties in the inflammation conditions (under oxidatives/halogenative stress). We use two forms of Lf – human Lf, excreted from human milk, and recombinant Lf, excreted from milk of transgenic goats. It was established that the amino acids of Lf (decreasing the number of tryptophanils and primary amines) and protein restructuring undergo modification under the HOCl action, while H2O2 has no influence. These changes in the molecule under the HOCl treatment result in decreasing the iron-binding capacity of Lf.