Effect of Lactoferrin on Clinical Outcomes of Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19: The LAC Randomized Clinical Trial
Erica Matino, Elena Tavella, Manuela Rizzi, Gian Carlo Avanzi, Danila Azzolina, Antonio Battaglia, Paolo Becco, Mattia Bellan, Giovanni Bertinieri, Massimo Bertoletti, Giuseppe Francesco Casciaro, Luigi Mario Castello, Umberto Colageo, Donato Colangelo, Davide Comolli, Martina Costanzo, Alessandro Croce, Davide D’onghia, Francesco Della Corte, Luigi De Mitri, Valentina Dodaro, Filippo Givone, Alessia Gravina, Luca Grillenzoni, Graziano Gusmaroli, Raffaella Landi, Anna Lingua, Roberto Manzoni, Vito Marinoni, Bianca Masturzo, Rosalba Minisini, Marina Morello, Anna Nelva, Elena Ortone, Rita Paolella, Giuseppe Patti, Anita Pedrinelli, Mario Pirisi, Lidia Ravizzi, Eleonora Rizzi, Daniele Sola, Mariolina Sola, Nadir Tonello, Stelvio Tonello, Gigliola Topazzo, Aldo Tua, Piera Valenti, Rosanna Vaschetto, Veronica Vassia, Erika Zecca, Nicoletta Zublena, Paolo Manzoni, Pier Paolo Sainaghi
Nutrients, doi:10.3390/nu15051285
As lactoferrin is a nutritional supplement with proven antiviral and immunomodulatory abilities, it may be used to improve the clinical course of COVID-19. The clinical efficacy and safety of bovine lactoferrin were evaluated in the LAC randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial. A total of 218 hospitalized adult patients with moderate-to-severe COVID-19 were randomized to receive 800 mg/die oral bovine lactoferrin (n = 113) or placebo (n = 105), both given in combination with standard COVID-19 therapy. No differences in lactoferrin vs. placebo were observed in the primary outcomes: the proportion of death or intensive care unit admission (risk ratio of 1.06 (95% CI 0.63-1.79)) or proportion of discharge or National Early Warning Score 2 (NEWS2) ≤ 2 within 14 days from enrollment (RR of 0.85 (95% CI 0.70-1.04)). Lactoferrin showed an excellent safety and Nutrients 2023, 15, 1285. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15051285 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/nutrients tolerability profile. Even though bovine lactoferrin is safe and tolerable, our results do not support its use in hospitalized patients with moderate-to-severe COVID-19.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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