Allergie und Würmer: Sollen wir uns gute alte Freunde zurückholen?

Abstract

During the past 10 years, many exciting and important studies have found that certain helminth infections protect against the development of allergic diseases. Not surprisingly, several clinical trials investigated the effects of deliberate exposure to parasites like porcine whipworm (Trichuris suis) or hookworm (Necator americanus) to develop "helminth therapies". Although they proved to be a safe option to control aberrant inflammation, the final goal is to identify the parasite-derived immunnomodulatory molecules responsible for protective effects.

Editorial: “You shall not pass” or “Let`s make a deal” - crosstalk between helminths and the host immune system

“…eosinophils to the nasal mucosa, thereby reducing the immune response. (Gao et The results are consistent with the literature suggesting the potential of certain parasites to dampen inflammation (Schabussova and Wiedermann, 2014;Długosz et al, 2019;Zawistowska-Deniziak et al, 2021;Zawistowska-Deniziak et al, 2022;and Schabussova et al, 2013). In studies by Hou et al and Gao et al, improvement in disease symptoms was associated with an increase in regulatory responses.…”

Microbial Dysbiosis Tunes the Immune Response Towards Allergic Disease Outcomes

“…Here, the lack of sufficient regulatory responses accounts for the parallel rise in both autoimmune disease (Th1) and allergy (Th2) seen in recent history in a Th2-polarized immune response including production of IL-4, IL-5, IL-13, eosinophilia, and high serum titers of IgE, all hallmarks of allergic disease. Whilst at the same time, helminthic infections have largely been associated with inducing protective effects on the development of atopic disease as well as naturally occurring infection with Trichuris trichiura, Enterobius vermicularis, and Schistosoma mansoni, which have all been shown to exhibit a protective effect [194], especially when exposure was found to occur during in utero development [195] or early in life [196,197]. However, the protective effects of helminths do not appear to be universal, for example, infection with Ascaris lumbricoides or S. mansoni has also been associated with higher asthma rates in certain populations [198][199][200].…”