Advances in the Purification of Lactoferrin and Lactoperoxidase from Dairy Whey

The development of strategies and processes to valorize cheese whey is an area of constant advancement and growth, primarily due to the large volume generated daily and inherent technical difficulties in cost-effectively processing this material. In this regard, the present perspective will discuss and analyze different strategies based on chromatographic innovations to develop processes that enable the direct and selective capture and purification of bovine lactoferrin (LF) and lactoperoxidase (LP) proteins from cheese whey. These proteins possess interesting commercial value and represent minor components of the whey protein fraction, with whey being their main source. Given that this issue is dedicated to the memory and career of Prof. Dr. Osvaldo Cascone, and considering his extensive research in this area, his contributions will be examined chronologically to illustrate the strategic technological advancements made by his research group. Specifically, the advancements achieved in terms of efficiency in the selectivity and purity obtained for the target proteins through the development of affinity chromatographic matrices and processes will be discussed, as well as the progress made in terms of whey processability.