Alloferon

Alloferon are members of cytokine-like peptide family that were first extracted from the blood of Calliphora vincina larvae after bacterial challenge. After extensive purification, two peptide chains with different numbers of amino acids 13 and 12, which stimulate in vitro natural cytotoxicity of mouse spleen lymphocytes and human blood mononuclear cells, were isolated and their amino acid sequences were identified. They were named alloferon 1 and alloferon 2, respectively.

It has been reported that alloferon displays a capacity to the antitumor and antiviral activities toward influenza virus, herpes viruses, and coxsackievirus. They can stimulate the activity of natural killer (NK) cells and induce also the interferon (IFN) synthesis that was demonstrated using animal and human models. Moreover, some studies also demonstrated that alloferon significantly decreased the level of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), insignificantly decreased the IFN γ level, and increased the production of IL-2 (interleukin 2) in rats’ plasma.