In vitro evaluation of bovine lactoferrin potential as an anticancer agent

Bovine lactoferrin (bLF) was shown to efficiently inhibit the growth of MCF-7, T-47D, MDA-MB-231 and Hs578T breast cancer cells in a concentration-dependent manner. However, apoptosis was only induced in MCF-7 cells, which was associated with the mitochondria membrane depolarisation and a decrease of Bcl-2 levels. bLF led to the cycle arrest of MCF-7 cells at G1/G0 phase, as well as a significant decrease in the expression of CDC25c. The possibility that the observed anticancer effects could be due to the high exogenous bLF concentrations in the culture media was excluded. Moreover, bLF was shown to restrain the colony formation of MCF-7 cells, although it promoted cell migration. This later effect was unspecific and related to the presence of a high protein concentration in the culture or medium. The results gathered in this work provide valuable insights for the evaluation and further study of the potential of bLF in cancer therapy.