Talactoferrin, a novel dendritic cell activator (DCA), is a unique recombinant form of human lactoferrin, an important immunomodulatory protein. Lactoferrin, found in the highest concentration in milk, is expressed throughout the body in immune cells and on all body surfaces exposed to the external environment. Lactoferrin plays an important role in helping to establish the immune system, including the Gut Associated Lymphoid Tissue (GALT), in infants. Talactoferrin is produced in Aspergillus niger, a filamentous fungus, and is structurally identical to native human lactoferrin in all material respects, differing only in its glycosylation.

Talactoferrin is an orally active protein that mediates its activity through the gut and the GALT - the largest lymphoid organ in the body. It acts through a novel mechanism of dendritic cell recruitment and activation. Following oral administration, talactoferrin is transported by the M-cells into the small intestinal Peyer's Patches, where it recruits circulating immature dendritic cells bearing tumor antigens to the GALT and induces their maturation. DC maturation in the presence of tumor antigens and lymphoid effector cells induces a strong systemic innate and adaptive immune response mediated by anti-cancer Natural Killer (NK) cells, CD8+ lymphocytes and NK-T cells. This results in the activation of tumor-draining lymph nodes, cellular infiltration of distant tumors and tumor-cell death. Mounting the initial immune response in the GALT - away from the primary tumor, and using a physiologically important pathway - minimizes the effect of the cancer's local immunosuppressive defenses.

As in the gut, topically administered talactoferrin facilitates the activation of DCs (also called Langerhans' cells) and macrophages in the open wound, accelerating the early steps critical to effective wound healing.