Effects of parasitic worms on the immune system
The effects of parasitic worms, or helminths, on the immune system is a recently emerging topic of study among immunologists and other biologists.
[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Often, such a response is beneficial to both parasite and host, according to Graham Rook, a professor of medical microbiology at University College London.
[9] Rook points out that this hypothesis would only explain the regulatory effects of parasitic worms on autoimmune diseases caused by Th1 cells.
[10] In the Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology, Osada et al. note that macrophages induced by Treg cells fight not only the parasitic disease, but also resist the immune system's response to allergens and the body.
[14]" In the journal Immunology, Rook states that, because parasitic worms were almost always present, the human immune system developed a way to treat them that didn't cause tissue damage.
[9] The immune system extends this response to its treatments of self-antigens, softening reactions against allergens, the body,[9] and digestive microorganisms.
[9] The Hygiene hypothesis postulates that decreasing exposure to pathogens and other microorganisms results in an increase of autoimmune diseases, according to Rook.
[2] In an experiment with mice, infection with parasitic worms or helminth-products generally inhibited the spontaneous development of T1D, according to Anne Cook in the journal Immunology.
[3] They discovered that pure ES-62 prevents the release of allergenic inflammatory mediators in mice, resulting in weaker allergic and asthmatic symptoms.
[3] In the Journal of Immunology, Bashir et al. describe their experimental findings that an allergic response against peanuts is inhibited in mice infected with an intestinal parasite.
[6] In 2003, Iain McInnes et al. found that arthritic-induced mice experienced less inflammation and other arthritic effects when infected with ES-62, a protein derived from filarial nematodes, a kind of parasitic worm.
[18] Similarly, in the International Journal for Parasitology, Osada et al. published their experimental findings that arthritis-induced mice infected with the parasitic worm Schistosoma mansoni had down-regulated immune systems.
[20] Because Hepatitis C virus (HCV) and the parasitic worm Schistosoma (the bloodfluke) are relatively common in developing countries, there are many cases where both are present in the human body.
[22] Because the two diseases are abundant in developing countries, there are many patients with both HIV (Human immunodeficiency virus) and parasites, and specifically bloodflukes.
