- Research
has suggested that the absence of parasite infections may be linked to an
increased prevalence of inflammatory conditions.
- According
to a new review of existing studies, parasites may have anti-inflammatory
properties that may help prevent aging.
- Controlled
restorative therapies can be beneficial for regulating a proper immune
response.
Through
centuries of evolution, the human body and its surrounding environments have
adapted to improve health and promote longevity. For example, the increasing
emphasis on hygiene has been effective in combating parasites that cause
disease.
These
changes have been crucial, as evidenced by the greater life expectancies and
lower disease rates in certain regions of the world. However, these benefits
come with trade-offs.
Parasites
and humans share a long history of coexistence. It is likely that the human
immune function developed
in relation to parasitic mechanisms.
The “old friends” hypothesis states that these
parasites were like old friends of the human body that helped improve tolerance
and function and that their decline led to a higher prevalence of allergic
responses and autoimmune conditions.
This
decline may also promote inflammaging, which is a chronic form of inflammation that worsens with progressing
age. Inflammaging contributes to several age-related conditions, such as dementia, cancer, osteoporosis, and heart
disease.
One recent
study shows that inflammaging may
exacerbate symptoms of COVID-19, as well.
Bruce Zhang
and Dr. David Gems, from the Institute of Healthy Ageing at University College
London in the United Kingdom, conducted a review of the existing literature to
explore the use of parasite worms as a therapy to reverse conditions linked to
inflammaging. This review article appears in the journal eLife.
The authors
focused their research on a specific group of parasitic worms called helminths,
which include roundworms, tapeworms,
and flukes. These parasites live inside host organisms, such as human bodies,
and take advantage of their immune responses in order to survive.
These
findings also provide a glimpse into the intricacies of the human body’s immune
functions.
Pre-aging inflammatory conditions
Scientists
associate the decline of helminths with multiple inflammatory conditions that
occur earlier in life. These include asthma, eczema, multiple
sclerosis (MS), rheumatoid
arthritis,
inflammatory bowel disease, and type 1 diabetes.
Current evidence supports the idea
that both natural and deliberate infection with helminths can combat these
inflammatory conditions.
Indeed, in
1976, researcher J. A. Turton published a report in which he explained that his
hookworm infection reduced the severity of his allergies.
A
more recent study —
which Marc Charabati, of the University of Montreal in Canada, led — showed
that infecting mice with helminths eased their MS symptoms.
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