With the emergence of the hygiene hypothesis, people began to think about the health benefits of being infected with a parasite and the effects this had on autoimmune disease and allergies. One man, Jasper Lawrence, suffered from severe allergies. When he heard about the affect parasites had on allergies, he had an extreme reaction. Jasper Lawrence traveled to Africa and walked around barefoot in the vicinity of latrines until he was infected with a blood sucking parasite known as hookworms. He states that the parasitic infection has had a positive affect on his allergies and now owns a company that sells helminths to people as way to self treat their allergic and autoimmune disorder (2). Among these disorders are severe allergy, MS, diabetes, IBD, etc.
Realistically, how safe are these treatments. We talked about helminth therapies in class in relation to IBD. In the review article, “Worms and the Treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Are Molecules the Answer?” the authors discuss the evidence that helminth infections provide some form of protection and alleviation of symptoms of allergies and autoimmune disorders. However, it is not realistic to infect patients with live parasites as there are side effects of a parasitic infection that could cause more harm than benefit. The authors of this paper propose that is would be better to isolate the molecules secreted by the helminths that provide the protection and use those molecules to develop a treatment therefore by passing the side effects of live parasites. The isolation of the molecules is difficult and is an area of future study that could be promising in allieviating disease symptoms in autoimmune disorders (IBD, MS, diabetes) and allergies.
1.http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/may/23/parasitic-hookworm-jasper-lawrence-tim-adams
2.http://autoimmunetherapies.com/helminthic_therapy_safety.html
3.”Worms and the Treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Are Molecules the Answer?” http://www.hindawi.com/journals/cdi/2008/567314/
Thank you so much for posting this, as it relates very closely to what we learned in class this week, particularly about parasite infection, their involvement in allergy, and potential treatments for patients inflicted with sensitive allergic responses. I also think that Mr. Lawrence's idea for self treatment of allergies via parasites was very interesting but extremely risky. What techniques are they currently using to discover what molecules the helminths are secreting? How effective are these techniques currently? Is there a database with different helminths and the molecules they release currently in the works for use as treatments for severe allergic reactions? How does the TH2 response play into this allergy vs. parasitology response? Where is the most research being conducted and is there a collaborative effort being undertaken worldwide or just at these research hotspots? Is there a way to take an active helminth and attenuate it before placing it into a patient in hopes of causing an immune response against the inactive parasite? As you can see, this type of research brings more questions to my mind than answers. Thanks again for posting such an interesting topic! I get small amounts of hay fever each year, which can be hellishly uncomfortable, and so am very interested in any research being done that might benefit or even get rid of autoimmunity allergies such as hay fever. Here is a follow up article I found that deals with heliminths and their protection against allergic diseases in Vietnam. Thought this would give a worldly take on our discussion of allergies and heliminths.
ReplyDelete1.http://www.zimbio.com/Allergies+And+Allergy+Relief/articles/mQictvm3Jjj/Helminth+parasites+allergic+disease+Vietnam
I also found this really interesting! I know we mentioned several of these cases in class (of people infecting themselves with parasites in order to help with many different diseases) and I thought it was very interesting. I think you made a good point in mentioning the side effects though because that is what I am most curious about...I would love to hear a little more about whether Mr. Lawrence or any other people that have attempted this therapy have had any serious and significant side effects. Considering that they are looking into using these helminth molecules for the treatment of IBD, MS, diabetes and allergies, it definitely seems like an interesting topic of research, since it might be able to help with such a wide range of diseases that many people are suffering from.
ReplyDeleteNice post! Thank you for posting this. I was browsing around and totally like the idea of infesting ourselves with foreign parasites to keep the immune system busy and healthy. This is what I found that relates to your post. Ulcerative colitis is an autoimmune disorder of intestine causing bleeding and sever diarrhea due to immune system attacking the wall of the intestines.
ReplyDeletehttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3287733.stm
In this article, the patient describes the treatment when she actually ingest LIVE warms to fight the autoimmune disorder. It may be an extreme approach, but in such sever auto immune disorder benefits outweigh the risks, and in her case it seems to be the right way to go.
This is very interesting! I remember it being mentioned in class and I still cannot believe how extreme some people will go. It is very interesting to think that some day we will be able to isolate the chemicals/mechanisms responsible in the parasites that will combat some of the diseases that occur today. We can think back on this story and realize how one crazy idea that everyone thinks is dumb will actually be the first step into saving more lives.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! However the potential of "Self induced parasite treatment" is depend of how would the specific hypothesis of mechanism behind it. As we know that there are several types of autoimmune disease which has different form of immunopathology. The hygiene hypothesis seems implicitly mean that better sanitation has an trade off so in other word too clean is not good? For me, the hygiene hypothesis should be challenged rather by "lifestyle" theory in general, and I would appointed "Diet" theory specifically as an alternative. It means that "eat style" in developed world might ruin the balance of immune system rather the hygiene it self. So, people might eat much more "Pro inflammatory" type of food and that mimic many inflammation in various type of disease.
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