Research progress of lactoferrin as drug carriers

Lactoferrin (Lf) is one of the food protein belonged to the innate immune system. Apart from its main biological function of binding and transport of iron ions, lactoferrin also has many other functions and properties such as antibacterial, antiviral, antiparasitic, catalytic, anti-cancer, anti-allergic and radioprotecting. Lf is usually used as additives of food and cosmetics. The research of lactoferrin has been increasingly reported, and the application of lactoferrin as a drug carrier has drawn extensive attention over the recent year. In this paper, researches of lactoferrin as drug carriers are classified and summarized in brain targeting, liver tumor targeting, lung tumor targeting and oral delivery systems according to their different characteristics.