ISSN 1007-9327 CN 14-1219/R World J Gastroenterol 2010 February 14; 16(6): 703-712
Schistosoma mansoni proteins attenuate gastrointestinal motility disturbances during experimental colitis in mice
http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/16/703.asp
Injecting worm proteins [...]
Disappointing. 10 hookworms didn’t really work statistically for asthma or allergies, but there were immune changes. I wonder what “mimic most closely natural infection” means (last line of abstract for asthma study)? Less at once, more often? Or more than 10? I am feeing extraordinarily lucky that 10 hookworms caused such a pronounced change [...]
Article after article extolling the virtues of helminths’ ability to prevent allergies and autoimmune diseases always end in quotes like this:
“The hope is that the work could aid the development of new treatments which work in the same way as gut parasites, by dampening down or rebalancing the immune system so that the body does [...]
There are very few studies on the effect of helminths on humans. As a patient trying this therapy, there are few immune markers we have on hand to check immune response. We have measures of inflammation, like CRP and SED rates, but only in the research setting can one measure IL-10, [...]
3 new reviews in Immunology on how helminths are part of the missing link epidemiologically, along with certain other infections, and are probably the reason for the rise in autoimmunity, allergies, certain cancers, depression, nuerological diseases, and atherosclerosis. Click on the HTML or PDF link and you can read them in full.
Rook GAW; Review [...]