I know it sounds crazy, but science may be proving it to be true through clinical trials worldwide. A study was conducted in Argentina where scientists looked at 24 different MS patients. 12 of the patients had been diagnosed with parasitic infections, while the 12 others had not. The parasite-ridden patients were infected with a variety of different species of worms (heliminths), including Tapeworms, roundworms, whipworms, and pinworms. After their initial meeting, all patients were followed for a period more than four years, and the number of MS relapses were counted. After the four-year period, 56 relapses were reported in the parasite-free MS group, while in the group carrying parasites, only 3 cases were reported. Those 3 cases accounted for just over 5% of all reported relapses, while fewer than 95% of relapses were reported in parasite-free patients! These parasite-infected patients also had fewer MS lesions on subsequent MRI’s and less progression of the disease. The scientists said it was possible that the parasites were able to influence the production and up-regulation of T-cells, thus possibly impacting the immunologic response through T-cell mediation and B-cell antibody class switching. What do you think?
In yet another study conducted in the US, Five patients took part in the Phase 1 trial, called Helminth-Induced Immunomodulation Therapy, or HINT. Whipworm eggs were taken from pigs free of disease and grown in Denmark. Every two weeks over the course of the three-month trial, the patients drank 2,500 of the whipworm eggs mixed into a sports drink. The eggs hatched in the patient's intestines and were killed by the immune system after about a week. Patients underwent MRI’s throughout the study, which tracked the number of new brain lesions that developed before, during and after worm eggs were ingested. Four out of the five patients showed decreasing brain lesions during the course of the study! Lesions only reappeared after the trial had completed. With heliminth treatment expected to cost significantly less than that of MS treatment (ex. Betaseron), this HINT provides a novel, cost effective method for treatment of MS.
Although many theories (ex. “Hygiene hypothesis”) have arisen in attempts to describe these findings, more research must be undertaken in order to find the true causation and method of action that parasitic infection has on MS. In the US, treatments for autoimmune gut conditions involving swallowing worm eggs have already been offered. It is only a matter of time before these treatments become common practice.
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Do you know if people infected with a certain heminth did better than others infected with a different helminth? It would be interesting to know since different helminths avoid being expelled through different mechanisms, which may have an effect on how effective they are on suppressing MS relapse and lesions.
ReplyDeleteI always wonder how they keep the parasites in check for therapies like this. I would imagine that they would get rid of the parasites before they started to cause too much damage and then reinfect themselves. Does anyone know if having a constant helminth infection or a periodic reinfection gives better results?
This type of therapy and the trials that have been done make me very weary of the ethics involved. The first link talks about a Dr. Pritchard who infected himself and I am curious how they did the studies mentioned: Did the patients in the "treatment" group not receive any current approved drugs for MS? How did they do the "no treatment" control? How did they convince regulatory agencies to allow these trials without any prior knowledge (or even semi-valid speculations) as to how the worms are helping MS patients?
ReplyDeleteI agree with MerryL7630, I am also weary of the ethics involved. Additionally, with such a small sample size, I don't think these studies can infer the impact of helminth as a treatment.
ReplyDeleteNice info Alex. This is another example on how keeping the immune system busy cures autoimmunity. I also like how they post the nastiest pictures of warms they can possibly get. Helminths are probably not so bad and can be easily controlled with conventional medicine.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it always parasites? We previously encountered parasite treatment during the discussions of IBD. The suggestion that parasites could help with at least two immunity-linked diseases does seem to support at least the basic underlying reasoning of the "Hygiene Hypothesis" or "Old Friends" hypothesis in that we used to have a few more guests in our bodies and the loss of them is linked to some diseases. Unfortunately, there seems to be a requirement that they live in our bodies, as a study testing bee stings and MS found that bee stings weren't providing any better results than current treatments.
ReplyDeleteThis post made me wonder if atopic individuals (prone to Type I autoimmune diseases like allergies and asthma) would have a decreased risk of some of these Th1-driven diseases, like IBD and MS. Parasitic worms seem to lessen the symptoms, and after all, Type I responses are identical to responses to parasitic infections. I searched around on pubmed and found that at least one group researchers have tested this theory. They did a population study looking at incidence rates of IBD and asthma.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20848463
They actually were unable to find evidence that asthma, as a Th2-driven disease, would reduce the risk of IBD, a Th1-driven disease. So, my idea is probably incorrect. I have a few theories as to why... Perhaps disregulation of one aspect of the immune system predicts disregulation of another (even immune diseases in separate classes may have common determinants), which would balance out any Th2 inhibition of Th1. Or, the positive effect with worms may be more due to an increase in Treg than a balancing of Th2-Th1. Whatever the answer, I'm glad someone else thought of this question first and did the research for me.