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Structure, Function, and Nutrition of Lactoferrin

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Mineral Containing Proteins

Abstract

Lactoferrin (Lf) is a polyfunctional protein from varied secretions of organisms. To date, about 20 different physiological roles of Lf have been reported. More and more studies on the structure and functions of Lf as well as the relationship of them have been intensively reported. In order to understand the Lf bioactivities and the mechanisms of different Lf functions, especially on the relationship between structure and functions, the research advancements are described in this study. In particular, the structure, bioactive site, thermal stability, several kinds of bioactive mechanisms such as antimicrobial, osteogenic, immunomodulatory, antitumor, antioxidant, and enzymic activities, and so forth are involved. Altogether, these are expected to provide some new ideas for the interesting topics about Lf, not only helpful for scientific research, but also for practical application in the medical and food industries, respectively.

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Acknowledgments

Funding and sponsorship. This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation (31371805), the National Science & Technology Pillar Program (2013BAD18B06-03), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (HIT.BRETIII.201231), and the Program of New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET-11-0796).

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  1. School of Food Science and Technology, National Engineering Research Center of Seafood, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian, 116034, China

    Ming Du

  2. Department of Food Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150090, China

    Meng Liu, Fengjiao Fan, Pujie Shi & Maolin Tu

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  1. Food Science and Nutritional Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China

    Guanghua Zhao

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Du, M., Liu, M., Fan, F., Shi, P., Tu, M. (2017). Structure, Function, and Nutrition of Lactoferrin. In: Zhao, G. (eds) Mineral Containing Proteins . Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3596-8_2

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