Schistosoma haematobium infection is associated with lower serum cholesterol levels and improved lipid profile in overweight/obese individuals

Abstract

Infection with parasitic helminths has been reported to improve insulin sensitivity and glucose homeostasis, lowering the risk for type 2 diabetes. However, little is known about its impact on whole-body lipid homeostasis, especially in obese individuals. For this purpose, a crosssectional study was carried out in lean and overweight/obese adults residing in the Lambaré né region of Gabon, an area endemic for Schistosoma haematobium. Helminth infection status, peripheral blood immune cell counts, and serum metabolic and lipid/lipoprotein levels were analyzed. We found that urine S. haematobium egg-positive individuals exhibited lower serum total cholesterol (TC; 4.42 vs 4.01 mmol/L, adjusted mean difference [95%CI]-0.30 [-0.68,-0.06]; P = 0.109), high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-C (1.44 vs 1.12 mmol/L,-0.24 [-0.43,-0.06]; P = 0.009) and triglyceride (TG; 0.93 vs 0.72 mmol/L,-0.20 [-0.39,-0.03]; P = 0.022) levels than egg-negative individuals. However, when stratified according to body mass index, these effects were only observed in overweight/obese infected individuals. Similarly, significant negative correlations between the intensity of infection, assessed by serum circulating anodic antigen (CAA) concentrations, and TC (r =-0.555; P<0.001), HDL-C (r =-0.327; P = 0.068), LDL-C (r =-0.396; P = 0.025) and TG (r =-0.381; P = 0.032) levels were found in overweight/obese individuals but not in lean subjects. Quantitative lipidomic analysis showed that circulating levels of some lipid species associated with cholesterol-rich lipoprotein particles were also significantly reduced in overweight/obese infected individuals in an intensity-dependent manner. In conclusion, we reported that infection with S. haematobium is associated with improved lipid profile in overweight/obese individuals, a feature that might contribute reducing the risk of cardiometabolic diseases in such population.

Association of Strongyloides stercoralis infection and type 2 diabetes mellitus in northeastern Thailand: Impact on diabetic complication-related renal biochemical parameters

“…stercoralis infection ( Fig 3 ). These findings are contrary to previous work conducted in schistosomiasis [ 8 , 19 , 37 ], opisthorchiasis [ 47 ] and soil-transmitted helminths [ 48 ], which have all reported that infection with parasites could lead to changed serum lipid levels (LDL-C and/or HDL levels,) or BMI, which in turn helps to prevent the development of disease complications [ 21 , 49 ]. These differences might be a consequence of differing participant age groups, recently of infection, worm burdens, geographical area, culture, and dietary habits.…”

Characterization of MicroRNA Cargo of Extracellular Vesicles Isolated From the Plasma of Schistosoma japonicum-Infected Mice

“…Normally, miR-122 is highly expressed in the liver, where it constitutes 70% of the total miRNA pool ( Jopling, 2012 ), and plays a pivotal role in liver biology and disease ( Bandiera et al., 2015 ). The result suggests that S. japonicum infection may be associated with significantly altered functions of host livers ( Hu et al., 2020 ), whereas S. haematobium infection reduces the levels of cholesterol-rich lipoprotein species in overweight infected individuals and lower the risk of cardiometabolic diseases ( Zinsou et al., 2020 ).…”

Effects of Taenia Pisiformis Infection and Obesity on Clinical Parameters, Organometry and Fat Distribution in Male Rabbits

“…Cholesterol reduction induced by parasitosis has been reported in humans. Natural infection with S. haematobium in obese individuals has a beneficial effect because it reduces the risk of developing cardiometabolic diseases [ 28 ]. Authors propose that the mechanism of the normalization of the lipid profile is due to the use of lipids in the synthesis of lipoproteins for the eggs of S. haematobium .…”