lactoferrin and Enteritis

Infant intestinal development is immature and, thus, is vulnerable to bacterial and viral infections, which damage intestinal development and even induce acute enteritis. Numerous studies have investigated that lactoferrin (LF) has protective effects on the intestine and may play a role in preventing intestinal inflammation in infants. Lactoferrin is divided into 2 types, namely apo-LF and holo-LF, depending on the degree of iron saturation, which may affect its bioactivities. However, the role of LF iron saturation in protecting infant intestinal inflammation has not been clearly clarified. Therefore, in this study, young mice models with intestinal damage induced by lipopolysaccharides (LPS) in vivo and primary intestinal epithelial cells in vitro were constructed to enteritis injury in infants for investigation. The apo-LF and holo-LF were subsequently applied to the mouse models to investigate and compare their levels of protection in the intestinal inflammatory injury, as well as to identify which LF was most active. Moreover, the specific mechanism of the LF with optimal iron saturation was further investigated through Western blot assay. Results demonstrated that disease activity index, shortened length of colon tissue, and histopathological score were significantly decreased in the apo-LF group compared with those of the LPS group and the holo-LF group. In the apo-LF group, the concentration of LPS in the intestinal tract and the number of gram-negative bacteria colonies decreased significantly and the expression levels of proinflammatory factors in the colon tissue were downregulated, in comparison with those in the LPS group. The findings of this study thus verify that apo-LF can significantly alleviate enteritis injury caused by LPS, through regulating the PPAR-γ/PFKFB3/NF-κB inflammatory pathway.

Topics: Animals; Enteritis; Inflammation; Iron; Lactoferrin; Lipopolysaccharides; Mice; Recombinant Proteins

Intestinal inflammation is a harmful condition in fish that can be triggered by the ingestion of soybean meal. Due to the positive costs-benefits ratio of including soybean meal in farmed fish diets, identifying additives with intestinal anti-inflammatory effects could contribute to solving the issues caused by this plant protein. This study evaluated the effect of incorporating lactoferrin (LF) into a soybean meal-based diet on intestinal inflammation in zebrafish. Larvae were fed with diets containing 50% soybean meal (50SBM) or 50SBM supplemented with LF to 0.5, 1, 1.5 g/kg (50SBM+LF0.5; 50SBM+LF1.0; 50SBM+LF1.5). The 50SBM+LF1.5 diet was the most efficient and larvae had a reduced number of neutrophils in the intestine compared with 50SBM larvae and an indistinguishable number compared with control larvae. Likewise, the transcription of genes involved in neutrophil migration and intestinal mucosal barrier functions (mmp9, muc2.2, and β-def-1) were increased in 50SBM larvae but were normally expressed in 50SBM+LF1.5 larvae. To determine the influence of intestinal inflammation on the general immune response, larvae were challenged with Edwardsiella tarda. Larvae with intestinal inflammation had increased mortality rate compared to control larvae. Importantly, 50SBM+LF1.5 larvae had a mortality rate lower than control larvae. These results demonstrate that LF displays a dual effect in zebrafish, acting as an intestinal anti-inflammatory agent and improving performance against bacterial infection.

Topics: Animal Feed; Animals; Dietary Supplements; Disease Models, Animal; Enteritis; Glycine max; Intestinal Absorption; Intestinal Mucosa; Lactoferrin; Lipid Metabolism; Zebrafish

Routine stool culture is used to evaluate patients with diarrheal illness. However, the results are often delayed, and the tests are very expensive. Therefore a rapid, simple method for screening would be a helpful adjunct in a diagnostic algorithm. Fecal leukocytes are found in diarrhea patients with diffuse colonic inflammation but missing in non-inflammatory cases, and are most commonly identified in infectious diarrheas of bacterial origin. It supports the use of immediate empiric therapy in very young, elderly and immunocompromised individuals. When negative, it may eliminate the need for stool culture in some cases of diarrhea. Recently, a new latex bead assay has been developed for the detection of lactoferrin, an iron binding glycoprotein found in polymorphonuclear leukocytes.. Evaluate the value of fecal leukocytes and lactoferrin in the workup of patients with diarrhea.. Fecal samples of 50 consecutive adult patients with acute or chronic diarrhea were tested for fecal leukocytes and lactoferrin. The results were compared with findings from fecal cultures, tests for parasite, Clostridium difficile A toxin latex test, data of the gastrointestinal examination and clinical evaluation. The authors defined two groups of the cases: the inflammatory and non-inflammatory diarrheas.. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value of microscopic leukocyte count and the lactoferrin test were 42 and 63%, 87 and 87%, 67 and 75%, 71 and 79% respectively.. In agreement with the literature the results of the present study indicate that fecal lactoferrin appears more sensitive than fecal leukocyte smear, and accurately rules out inflammatory diarrhea.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Algorithms; Diagnosis, Differential; Diarrhea; Enteritis; Feces; Female; Humans; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases; Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic; Lactoferrin; Leukocyte Count; Leukocytes; Male; Mass Screening; Middle Aged; Predictive Value of Tests; Sensitivity and Specificity

Shigella species cause bacillary dysentery in humans by invasion, intracellular multiplication, spread to adjacent cells, and induction of brisk inflammatory responses in the intestinal epithelium. In vitro data suggest that lactoferrin, a glycoprotein present in human mucosal secretions, has a role in protection from bacterial enteric infections. We sought to determine the activity of lactoferrin in vivo, using the concentration present in human colostrum, to investigate its effect on the development of clinical and pathological evidence of inflammation in a rabbit model of enteritis. Lactoferrin protected rabbits infected with Shigella flexneri from developing inflammatory intestinal disease. Typical histological changes in ill animals included villous blunting with sloughing of epithelial cells, submucosal edema, infiltration of leukocytes, venous congestion, and hemorrhage. Lactoferrin at a concentration normally found in human colostrum blocks development of S. flexneri-induced inflammatory enteritis.

Topics: Animals; Disease Models, Animal; Dysentery, Bacillary; Enteritis; Humans; Ileum; Inflammation; Lactoferrin; Rabbits; Shigella flexneri

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Cost-Benefit Analysis; Enteritis; Feces; Female; Humans; Infant; Lactoferrin; Male; Middle Aged; Predictive Value of Tests

As part of a traveler's diarrhea study carried out in Guadalajara, Mexico, and Goa, India, we conducted a case control study to evaluate fecal markers of enteric inflammation in three groups. Forty-five cases of enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) diarrhea were compared to 56 controls with enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) diarrhea, and 126 controls with diarrhea without identifiable pathogens. For EAEC cases we found fecal leukocytes, occult blood, and lactoferrin in 13 (28.9%), 14 (31.1%), and 27 (60.0%) patients, respectively; for ETEC controls they were 15 (26.8%), 16 (28.6%), and 15 (26.8%) respectively; and for patients without identifiable pathogens 19 (15.1%), 34 (27.0%) and 27 (21.4%) were seen for the presence of a positive fecal lactoferrin test in EAEC cases was statistically significant compared to both control groups. The study provides evidence that EAEC infection is associated with an intestinal inflammatory response.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Bacterial Adhesion; Biomarkers; Case-Control Studies; Cell Line; Diarrhea; Enteritis; Escherichia coli; Escherichia coli Infections; Feces; Humans; Lactoferrin; Leukocytes; Occult Blood; Travel

The fecal proteins in blood and granules related with inflammation have been measured to examine the conditions of inflammation in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). To noninvasively examine the conditions in pediatric patients with various gastrointestinal diseases, we evaluated the usefulness of measuring the concentration of fecal lactoferrin (Lf), which is the specific granule component in neutrophils. Lf was measured by ELISA in patients with infectious enteritis (E), Henoch Schönlein purpura (HSP), and ulcerative colitis (UC), and in control subjects. The fecal Lf levels were significantly higher in patients with E, HSP, and UC than in control subjects. The fecal Lf levels were significantly increased in not only patients with bacterial but also those with viral gastroenteritis. These findings suggest that the measurement of fecal Lf concentration is useful for noninvasive monitoring of the disease activity in pediatric patients with gastrointestinal disease and the activities of neutrophils elevate in patients with viral infectious enteritis.

Topics: Child; Colitis, Ulcerative; Enteritis; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Feces; Gastrointestinal Diseases; Humans; Lactoferrin

The Leuko-Test yielded a negative predictive value of 98.4% when it was used to screen 325 patients for inflammatory bacterial enteritis and a negative predictive value of 99.4% when it was used to screen 416 stool specimens for those from which enteric pathogens would likely be recovered when cultured. Neither microscopy for fecal leukocytes nor an assay for fecal occult blood, alone or in combination, allowed for the reliable detection of invasive bacterial enteritis or the reliable selection of specimens for culture. When positive in the Leuko-Test, specimens collected from patients after the third day of hospitalization did not yield enteric pathogens when the specimens were cultured, and specimens collected from inpatients within the first 3 days of hospitalization or from outpatients did not contain Clostridium difficile toxin A. As a screening test, the Leuko-Test has the ability to generate rapidly a result which can support the presumptive diagnosis of inflammatory bacterial enteritis or which can be used to determine the suitability of stool specimens for bacteriologic culture.

Topics: Bacterial Infections; Bacteriological Techniques; Diagnostic Errors; Enteritis; Evaluation Studies as Topic; Feces; Humans; Lactoferrin; Latex Fixation Tests; Leukocytes; Occult Blood; Sensitivity and Specificity

We have reported that lactoferrin, a 77-kDa iron-binding glycoprotein found in secondary neutrophil granules, provides a useful marker of fecal leukocytes in fecal specimens from patients with inflammatory diarrhea (R. L. Guerrant, V. Araujo, E. Soares, K. Kotloff, A. A. M. Lima, W. H. Cooper, and A. G. Lee, J. Clin. Microbiol. 30:1238-1242, 1992). In order to determine the usefulness of this marker of neutrophilic inflammation in different body fluids, we examined blood, gingival swabs, sputum, and saliva using antilactoferrin antibodies (lactoferrin latex agglutination [LFLA]). LFLA titers in whole blood samples were < or = 1:4 in all eight samples from patients with neutropenia (absolute neutrophil count [ANC] = < 150 polymorphonuclear cells [PMNs] per microliter), < or = 1:8 in samples from 13 individuals with moderate leukocyte counts (ANC = 150 to 8,000), and 1:8 to 1:32 in samples from six patients with neutrophilia (ANC > 8,000). While the overlap precludes a useful role in the identification of neutropenia, these data confirm that lactoferrin titers of > 1:100 indeed indicate inflammation in fluid specimens. On quantitative elution of lactoferrin from gingival swabs, all 7 patients with dental plaque had titers of 1:200 to 1:400; 9 of 12 patients with clinical gingivitis had LFLA titers of 1:200 to 1:1,600, while all 7 individuals with healthy gums and teeth and 4 edentulous patients had LFLA titers of < or = 1:100. Eight purulent sputum samples had titers of > or = 1:400 (7 were 1:1,600) while 11 normal saliva samples showed titers of < or = 1:100. Lactoferrin titers in sputum, gingival swabs, and whole blood correlate with the presence of neutrophils or inflammation in these specimens and may offer a convenient rapid test for inflammatory processes.

Topics: Agglutination Tests; Biomarkers; Body Fluids; Enteritis; Feces; Gingiva; Humans; Lactoferrin; Latex; Neutrophil Activation; Neutrophils; Sputum