helminth therapy

You are currently browsing articles tagged helminth therapy.

Who needs Humira when you can have worm shots?

December 10, 2008 in helminth immunology, studies by I | No comments

Worm proteins injected intraperitoneally (shot in the abdomen) ameliorate colitis in mice.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121530207/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

“Conclusions: Treatment with proteins of S. mansoni and A. caninum ameliorated TNBS-induced colitis in mice. S. mansoni proteins increased mRNA expression of regulatory cytokines while suppressing expression of proinflammatory cytokines. Therefore, we suggest a therapeutic potential for helminth proteins in the treatment of IBD.”

This is probably the way helminth therapy will go. A shot every 2 weeks in the abdomen. No icky worms to think about. All sterile and in a nice box in the fridge. No worries about worm death…I wonder if it will hurt as much as Humira…

Tags: ,

Asphelia Pharmaceuticals: the new TSO

December 1, 2008 in helminth therapy, whipworm by I | 1 comment

So it looks like TSO has been bought by Asphelia Pharmaceuticals, who supposedly has rights to all uses of TSO except for IBD in Europe. Here’s a link to their site:

http://www.aspheliapharma.com/

And they have a fabulous video on the use of helminths for inflammatory diseases:

http://www.aspheliapharma.com/media.html

In their pipeline, they claim that they were starting a trial for Crohn’s disease this Fall, but I contacted the CEO and he said due to funding issues, it’s been postponed, and to look for an announcement on clinicaltrials.gov for when the trial begins. So for those with Crohn’s waiting for some free TSO, it may be a while…

Tags: , , ,