Use of lactoferrin for therapy of acute or recurrent infectious diseases by streptococcus pyogenes or other intracellular gram positive pathogen bacteria

摘要

The present invention relates to the therapeutic utilization of the protein lactoferrin for the therapy of many acute or recurrent bacterial infectious diseases of men and animals. In details, the present invention demonstrates an anti-invasive property of lactoferrin in apo and iron-saturated form towards intracellular Gram positive pathogen microorganisms, like Streptococcus pyogenes and Staphylococcus aureus not being related to the well known antibacterial activity of lactoferrin and to the other known properties of the protein. The same anti-invasive activity of lactoferrin is also possessed, even if to a lower extent, by polypeptide fragments of the protein and by other transferrin proteins eventually chemically modified.