Development of New Strategy for Non-Antibiotic Therapy: Dromedary Camel Lactoferrin Has a Potent Antimicrobial and Immunomodulator Effects

Abstract

The human and bovine lactoferrin have been studied extensively, but very few reports have been published concerning camel lactoferrin (cLf). The present study aimed to isolate cLf and evaluate its efficiency including antimicrobial activity and immunomodulator effects. cLf isolation was attempted from camel milk whey using a cation exchange chromatography by SP-Sepharose. The antimicrobial activity of the isolated cLf was investigated against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), Streptococcus agalactiae (S. agalactiae), Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aerogenosa) strains. The immune effect of cLf was studied by lymphocyte transformation test. It was found that cLf was separated around molecular weight of 80 kDa and showed significant inhibitory effect against E. coli followed by P. aeruginosa, S. agalactiae and S. aureus. cLf increased lymphocyte transformations mean values in a dose dependant manner. The highest transformations mean value was determined at 50 μg/mL. In conclusion, these results suggest that cLf is a potent natural antimicrobial and novel immunomodulator agent.