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Worm parasite may hold clues in bid for illness and allergy cures
November 08, 2005Tiny worms that can trick the body's natural defences could hold the key to new treatments for a range of conditions, including diabetes, asthma and hay fever. University of Edinburgh scientists, who have discovered that helminth parasites can exploit an 'Achilles heel' in our immune system, now hope to mimic the worms' survival tactics in a bid to beat infection.
To find out how helminths fool the body's defences, the team are focusing on the role played by so-called 'regulatory cells', which fulfil a policing role that protects our bodies. These cells decide when to stop the immune system from attacking the body's own proteins (a process called autoimmunity) and also prevent it from attacking harmless environmental molecules.
It is thought that helminths produce molecules that trigger a response in regulatory cells (similar to the one that prevents autoimmunity), which tricks the body into switching off the response that would otherwise kill the parasites. If that is the case, then infections could be cured, not by vaccination or drug treatment, but by reactivating the immune system. It is the first time such a concept has been explored to curb the tropical diseases caused by helminths - such as filariasis and schistosomiasis - which affect one in four of the global population.
The study - the first findings of which are reported in the Journal of Experimental Medicine - could also help growing numbers of people in the developed world who have autoimmune conditions such as diabetes, asthma and hay fever. Again, the key is identifying the molecules that helminths produce in order to influence regulatory cell activity. If scientists can understand how these molecules trigger suppression of the immune system, they might also employ the molecules to stop the immune system from attacking the body's own cells - which is what happens in diseases caused by over-active immune responses.
Professor Rick Maizels, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Biological Sciences, has been awarded £1.3 million by the Wellcome Trust to conduct the research. He said: "Perhaps we can borrow a trick from parasites, and employ the molecules which suppress the immune system to treat these auto-immune disorders. The project therefore offers potential for new treatments of diseases in both the developed world and the disadvantaged countries of the tropics."
University of Edinburgh
The study - the first findings of which are reported in the Journal of Experimental Medicine - could also help growing numbers of people in the developed world who have autoimmune conditions such as diabetes, asthma and hay fever. Again, the key is identifying the molecules that helminths produce in order to influence regulatory cell activity. If scientists can understand how these molecules trigger suppression of the immune system, they might also employ the molecules to stop the immune system from attacking the body's own cells - which is what happens in diseases caused by over-active immune responses.
Professor Rick Maizels, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Biological Sciences, has been awarded £1.3 million by the Wellcome Trust to conduct the research. He said: "Perhaps we can borrow a trick from parasites, and employ the molecules which suppress the immune system to treat these auto-immune disorders. The project therefore offers potential for new treatments of diseases in both the developed world and the disadvantaged countries of the tropics."
University of Edinburgh
Immune System Current Events and Immune System News RSSSurface bacteria maintain skin's healthy balance
On the skin's surface, bacteria are abundant, diverse and constant, but inflammation is undesirable. Research at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine now shows that the normal bacteria living on the skin surface trigger a pathway that prevents excessive inflammation after injury.
Gene mismatch influences success of bone marrow transplants
A commonly inherited gene deletion can increase the likelihood of immune complications following bone marrow transplantation, an international team of researchers reports in the November 22 advance online issue of Nature Genetics.
Measuring and modeling blood flow in malaria
When people have malaria, they are infected with Plasmodium parasites, which enter the body from the saliva of a mosquito, infect cells in the liver, and then spread to red blood cells.
New cancer target for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
Physician-scientists from Weill Cornell Medical College have discovered a molecular mechanism that may prove to be a powerful target for the treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of cancer that affects lymphocytes, or white blood cells.
First reconstitution of an epidermis from human embryonic stem cells
Stem cell research is making great strides. This is yet again illustrated by a study carried out by the I-STEM* Institute (I-STEM/ Inserm UEVE U861/AFM), published in the Lancet on 21 November 2009. The I-STEM team, directed by Marc Peschanski has just succeeded in recreating a whole epidermis from human embryonic stem cells.
New findings suggest strategy to help generate HIV-neutralizing antibodies
New discoveries about anti-HIV antibodies may bring researchers a step closer to creating an effective HIV vaccine, according to a new paper co-authored by scientists at the Vaccine Research Center of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.
UAB Researchers Discover Antibody Receptor Identity, Propose Renaming Immune-System Gene
Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have uncovered the genetic identity of a cellular receptor for the immune system's first-response antibody, a discovery that sheds new light on infection control and immune disorders.
New culprit for viral infections among elderly -- an overactive immune response
Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have found that exaggerated responses of the immune system explain why the elderly succumb to viral infections more readily than younger people.
Women at risk from vitamin A deficiency
Almost half of UK women could be suffering from a lack of vitamin A due to a previously undiscovered genetic variation, scientists at Newcastle University have found.
Immune system activated in schizophrenia
Researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have discovered that patients with recent-onset schizophrenia have higher levels of inflammatory substances in their brains. Their findings offer hope of being able to treat schizophrenia with drugs that affect the immune system.
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