Effects of oral bovine lactoferrin on a mouse model of inflammation associated colon cancer.

Both ulcerative colitis and colonic Crohn's disease patients have a significantly increased risk of developing colorectal cancer. bLF is reported to inhibit the development of colon cancer in rats and mice, and in a placebo controlled trial, ingestion of bLF inhibited the growth of intestinal polyps. In addition, in a case study a Crohn's disease patient was reported to have remained in remission for over 7 years while ingesting 1 gram of bLF daily. Thus, bLF has an inhibitory effect on colon carcinogenesis, and it may also promote remission of Crohn's disease. The purpose of the present study was to begin to investigate the effect of bLF on a mouse model of IBD-related colorectal cancer. Azoxymethane (AOM) was used to initiate intestinal cancer and dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) was used to induce IBD-like inflammation in the intestine of C57BL/6 mice. Mice were divided into 4 groups: untreated, bLF alone, AOM+DSS, and AOM+DSS+bLF. At the end of the study, mice given AOM+DSS+LF had a better fecal score, less wounding in the colon, and less weight loss than mice in the AOM+DSS group. However, there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups in tumor burden.