The potential long‐term effect of previous schistosome infection reduces the risk of metabolic syndrome among Chinese men

Abstract

The association between potential long-term effects of previous schistosome infection (PSI) and the development of metabolic syndrome remains unknown. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the association between them. Participants were from regions which were all reportedly heavily endemic for S. japonicum in China 40 years ago. One thousand five hundred and ninety-seven men were enrolled. Among these, 465 patients with PSI were selected as study subjects and 1132 subjects served as controls. We found PSI significantly correlated with lower prevalences of metabolic syndrome and its components, including central obesity, hypertriglyceridemia and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, which indicates that the potential long-term effects of PSI may reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome. However, further studies are needed to investigate the protective immune effects of PSI.

Helminth infection modulates systemic pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines implicated in type 2 diabetes mellitus pathogenesis

“…In contrast, the prevalence of inflammatory metabolic diseases, such as Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is high in high-income countries. The absence of exposure to helminth infections has been postulated as one mechanism to explain this markedly increased prevalence of T2DM [2][3][4][5][6]. Recent observational studies in India, Indonesia, China and Australia have reported that the prevalence of helminth infections was significantly lower in T2DM individuals compared to non-diabetic controls [4,5,7,8], thus confirming a protective effect of helminths against T2DM pathogenesis.…”

New mechanisms of disease and parasite-host interactions

“…In this case, the worm would no longer be considered a parasite, but rather a symbiont. It In fact, some lines of investigation have suggested that parasitic infections may promote positive effects as controlling metabolic syndrome (which is not the same as IEM) [3][4] as well as harmful inflammatory responses (reviewed in [5]). Another analogous scenario to this last hypothesis was revealed by Lindell and colleagues [6].…”

The interplay of type 2 immunity, helminth infection and the microbiota in regulating metabolism

“…Moreover, diabetic patients with lymphatic filariasis showed decreased levels of circulating inflammatory cytokines compared to non‐infected diabetic patients . Additional studies in China reported that a history of Schistosoma infection was negatively correlated with the prevalence of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, and positively associated with improved glycaemic parameters . In Indonesia, STH infections were associated with an improvement of insulin sensitivity.…”

“…53 Additional studies in China reported that a history of Schistosoma infection was negatively correlated with the prevalence of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, and positively associated with improved glycaemic parameters. 54,55 In Indonesia, STH infections were associated with an improvement of insulin sensitivity. Importantly, the effect was still significant when normalising for BMI.…”