Hookworms, anemia, autoimmunity and the HIF-1/EPO/cathelicidin pathway induced by iron deficiency

Recently published research shows that hyrdoxylase inhibitors have 
gastroprotective properties through the induction of HIF-1a, thus making 
them a potential medication for leaky gut problems [PMID 18166353, 
18166352].  Low iron conditions and iron chelators like EGCG also 
activate HIF-1a, as does cobalt chloride as I pointed out in another 
post.

I was reviewing my notes on autoimmunity and a connection became very 
clear.  Intestinal helminths block the development of autoimmunity and 
allergy.  A medical researcher at the University of Nottingham named 
Alan Brown took hookworms to cure his allergies several years ago and he 
mentioned their only drawback was that they caused mild anemia 
<http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/695>
- in other words, iron 
deficiency.  It didn't occur to me that these linked up until now.  I 
believe that this anemia could actually be central to the 
gastroprotective role of helminths.  The hookworms could trip HIF-1a via 
low iron just like iron chelators do thus performing the job of the 
hydroxylase inhibitors used in the recent leaky gut research.

Cathelicidin is downstream of vitamin D3/HIF-1a and tilts mast cell 
inflammation towards innate immunity [PMID 18239275] and away from the 
spontaneous degranulation seen in allergy and other autoimmune 
conditions.  This HIF-1a pathway also induces angiogenesis in the skin 
[PMID 17536272] and I think it might behave similarly in the gut.  
Defects in the HIF-1a pathway might then account for the deranged 
angiogenesis we see in certain inflammatory bowel conditions.