Non-
alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) can cause
liver cirrhosis and
hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), with cases increasing worldwide. To reduce the incidence of
liver cirrhosis and HCC, NASH is targeted for the development of treatments, along with viral
hepatitis and
alcoholic hepatitis.
Lactoferrin (LF) has
antioxidant, anti-
cancer, and anti-inflammatory activities. However, whether LF affects NASH and
fibrosis remains unelucidated. We aimed to clarify the chemopreventive effect of LF on NASH progression. We used a NASH model with
metabolic syndrome established using
connexin 32 (Cx32) dominant negative transgenic (Cx32ΔTg) rats. Cx32ΔTg rats (7 weeks old) were fed a high-fat diet and intraperitoneally injected with
dimethylnitrosamine (DMN). Rats were divided into three groups for LF treatment at 0, 100, or 500 mg/kg/day for 17 weeks.
Lactoferrin significantly protected steatosis and lobular
inflammation in Cx32ΔTg rat livers and attenuated bridging
fibrosis or
liver cirrhosis induced by DMN. By quantitative RT-PCR, LF significantly down-regulated inflammatory (Tnf-α, Il-6, Il-18, and Il-1β) and
fibrosis-related (Tgf-β1, Timp2, and Col1a1)
cytokine mRNAs. Phosphorylated nuclear factor (NF)-κB
protein decreased in response to LF, while phosphorylated JNK
protein was unaffected. These results indicate that LF might act as a chemopreventive agent to prevent hepatic injury,
inflammation, and
fibrosis in NASH via NF-κB inactivation.