http://autoimmunetherapies.com/
offers the hookworm treatment.
On Jun 28, 9:03=A0pm, M <kublaka...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Trichuris suis ova whipworm and Necator americanus hookworm therapy
> for Crohn's disease - New York Times article
>
>
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/magazine/29wwln-essay-t.html?_r=3D1&r..=
..
>
> June 29, 2008
> Idea Lab
> The Worm Turns
> By MOISES VELASQUEZ-MANOFF
>
> In the early 1990s, Joel Weinstock, a gastroenterologist, encountered
> a puzzle. The prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease (I.B.D.) across
> North America increased markedly during the 20th century. Many thought
> that =93bad=94 genes would eventually explain the spike, but Weinstock
> didn=92t buy it. In areas where fewer than two generations ago the
> I.B.D. incidence might have been as low as 1 in 10,000, it was now 1
> in 250. A defective gene couldn=92t spread that quickly, he reasoned. It
> had to be something in the environment. But what? Stumped, Weinstock
> tried turning the question around. Instead of asking what triggered
> I.B.D., he asked what, before the 20th century, protected against it?
>
> At the time, Weinstock, then at the University of Iowa, was editing a
> book on parasitic worms. These worms, or helminths, have a paradoxical
> effect on the host. Rather than induce inflammation, which is the
> body=92s typical response to invasion, the intruders calm the host
> immune system. They force a peace, scientists think, to avoid eviction
> and keep the host =97 their home and food source =97 as healthy as
> possible. As Weinstock considered the I.B.D. puzzle, he wondered if
> immune manipulation by worms could incidentally protect against other
> diseases.
>
> Comparison of the prevalence of I.B.D. and surveys of worm-infestation
> rates revealed a telling pattern. About 10 years after improved
> hygiene and deworming efforts reduced worms in a given population,
> I.B.D. rates jumped. Weinstock had his hypothesis: after a long
> coevolution, the human immune system came to depend on the worms for
> proper functioning. When cleaner conditions and new medicines evicted
> the worms from our bodies, the immune system went out of kilter.
> =93Hygiene has made our lives better,=94 says Weinstock, now at Tufts
> University. =93But in the process of eliminating exposure to the 10 or
> 20 things that can make us sick, we=92re also eliminating exposure to
> things that make us well.=94
>
> At the time of Weinstock=92s initial musings, epidemiologists had
> already dubbed this notion =93the hygiene hypothesis=94: as improved
> hygiene reduced exposure to certain infectious agents, the immune
> system began malfunctioning. By the late 20th century, autoimmune
> disorders, characterized by the body=92s defenses attacking some aspect
> of the self, had increased markedly, and allergic diseases, defined by
> an overblown immune response to nonthreatening substances, afflicted
> almost half the people in the developed world.
>
> If eliminating worms led to an increase in disease, could re-
> introducing worms actually treat these diseases? In mice, the answer
> was yes. Worms were used to =93inoculate=94 against mouse asthma, Type 1
> diabetes, multiple sclerosis and I.B.D. But how to re-worm humans? We
> got rid of them for a reason. Too many worms can lead to anemia or
> obstructed bowels. The wrong kind can cause considerable suffering,
> even death.
>
> Weinstock spotted a prime candidate on pig farms. Pig farmers are
> chronically exposed to Trichuris suis, the pig whipworm, and tolerate
> it with no apparent side effects. (This is not the potentially
> dangerous worm found in undercooked ****k.)
>
> In 2005, he published results from two human studies. After ingesting
> 2,500 microscopic T. suis eggs at 3-week intervals for 24 weeks, 23 of
> 29 Crohn=92s patients responded positively. (Crohn=92s disease belongs
to
> the I.B.D. family, which also includes ulcerative colitis.) Twenty-one
> went into complete remission. In the second study, 13 of 30 ulcerative
> colitis patients improved compared with 4 in the 24-person placebo
> group.
>
> Scientists around the world are intrigued. Several large studies are
> under way. Trials using T. suis eggs on patients with multiple
> sclerosis, Crohn=92s and hay fever are beginning in the United States,
> Australia and Denmark, respectively. In Germany, scientists are
> planning studies on asthma and food allergies. Other European
> scientists, meanwhile, plan to replicate many of these experiments
> with Necator americanus, a human hookworm.
>
> When scientists unravel how helminths manipulate the immune system =97
> work is already under way =97 Weinstock foresees new worm-based drugs.
> But that may be a long way off, he says. Anyway, the pill approach
> risks missing the greater lesson. As he says, =93We=92re part of our
> environment; we=92re not separate from it.=94 It=92s a simple
observation
> with profound implications that are changing how scientists view the
> human organism. The dawning realization is this: You are not just your
> genetic self. You are a community of interacting organisms. This You
> ecosystem includes the bacteria that outnumber your genetic cells by
> 10 to 1, various fungi, viruses and just maybe a few parasites as
> well. Disturb or remove any key player, and the whole system can come
> unbalanced.
>
> Moises Velasquez-Manoff is a writer living in New York.
>
> Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company
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