Helminths and the modulation of mucosal inflammation

摘要

If harboring helminths protects against immune-mediated disease, then these animals must be viewed in a new light. Are there "good" helminths in addition to bad? Instead of being detestable objects marked for eradication, helminths should be viewed as useful animals; that may produce important compounds helpful for therapy of human.This article summarizes some of the evidence that inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) results from an excessive immune response, reviews regulatory factors that control intestinal inflammation, shows that an environmental change permits development of IBD, and explains why the loss of exposure to helminths may be important for the emergence of IBD. The article also reviews some of our recent studies showing that helminths can inhibit or reverse colitis in animal models of IBD and that patients with IBD improve when exposed to J- TICil'llTIS SHIS.