Lactoferrin interacts with deoxyribonucleic acid: a preferential reactivity with double-stranded DNA and dissociation of DNA-anti-DNA complexes
Bennett, R.M.; Davis, J.
Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine 99(1): 127-138
1982
ISSN/ISBN: 0022-2143 PMID: 6274982 Document Number: 184755
Lactoferrin (LF) was isolated from pooled human milk. Immunofluorescence studies of mouse liver cell nuclei incubated with LF, electroimmunodiffusion of LF with or without DNA, gel chromatography of an LF-DNA reaction mixture, affinity chromatography of single- and double-stranded DNA on a column of immobilized LF, and enzymic digestion of LF-DNA complexes, suggested preferential reactivity of LF with double-stranded DNA. Studies using sera from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) revealed that LF inhibited DNA-anti DNA binding and dissociated DNA-anti DNA complexes. A role for LF released by neutrophils in the inflammatory response in SLE is proposed.