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Lactoferrin is an 80 kDa monomeric glycoprotein that exhibits multitask activities. Lactoferrin properties are of interest in the pharmaceutical field for the design of products with therapeutic potential, including nanoparticles and liposomes, among many others. In antimicrobial preparations, lactoferrin has been included either as a main bioactive component or as an enhancer of the activity and potency of first-line antibiotics. In some proposals based on nanoparticles, lactoferrin has been included in delivery systems to transport and protect drugs from enzymatic degradation in the intestine, favoring the bioavailability for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease and colon cancer. Moreover, nanoparticles loaded with lactoferrin have been formulated as delivery systems to transport drugs for neurodegenerative diseases, which cannot cross the blood–brain barrier to enter the central nervous system. This manuscript is focused on pharmaceutical products either containing lactoferrin as the bioactive component or formulated with lactoferrin as the carrier considering its interaction with receptors expressed in tissues as targets of drugs delivered via parenteral or mucosal administration. We hope that this manuscript provides insights about the therapeutic possibilities of pharmaceutical Lf preparations with a sustainable approach that contributes to decreasing the resistance of antimicrobials and enhancing the bioavailability of first-line drugs for intestinal chronic inflammation and neurodegenerative diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pain is one of the most disabling symptoms of several clinical conditions. Neurobiologically, it is classified as nociceptive, inflammatory, neuropathic and dysfunctional. Opioids and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are conventionally prescribed for the treatment of pain. Long-term administration of opioids results in the loss of analgesic efficacy, leading to increased dosage, tolerance, and addiction as the main drawbacks of their use, while the adverse effects of NSAIDs include gastric ulcer formation, intestinal bleeding, acute kidney injury, and hepatotoxicity. Lactoferrin is an iron-binding, anti-inflammatory glycoprotein that displays analgesic activities associated, in part, by interacting with the low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein (LRP), which may result in the regulation of the DAMP–TRAF6–NFκB, NO–cGMP–ATP K+-sensitive channel and opioid receptor signaling pathways. This review summarizes and discusses for the first time the analgesic effects of lactoferrin and its presumable mechanisms based on pre-clinical trials. Given its anti-nociceptive and anti-inflammatory properties, lactoferrin may be used as an adjunct to enhance the efficacy and to decrease the tolerogenic effects of canonical therapeutic drugs prescribed for pain treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]