News

Hookworms could help fight asthma, immune diseases

Writing in the journal Science Translational Medicine on Wednesday, scientists report that a protein produced by hookworms eases the symptoms of asthma in mice – and could one day be made into a pill to treat humans

Buried in the creatures, many believe, are molecules with healing powers. Scattered studies in diseases like Crohn’s and celiac, as well as self-treatment by patients, suggest the worms might alleviate symptoms of autoimmune conditions—the exact ailments that have become more and more prevalent as hookworms have faded from our lives and general cleanliness has prevailed.

Hookworms are said to be among the oldest life forms on Earth, and when they sink their teeth into our blood vessels, they cause nausea, anemia, cramping, and more. Ancient Egyptians referred to the symptoms in a 3500-year-old papyrus, and Hippocrates may have described miners infected by them. In the early 1900s, an intensive campaign eliminated the worms from the intestines of U.S. schoolchildren and spawned the formation of the U.S. Public Health Service.

Severine Navarro, an immunologist at James Cook University in Cairns, Australia, is among those on the hunt for these magic molecules, and she believes she has found one: anti-inflammatory protein-2 (AIP-2). In mice with asthma, AIP-2 suppresses airway inflammation, Navarro and her colleagues report, and the protein also appears to damp down the proliferation of some immune cells in the blood of people with allergies.

“It’s a clear demonstration that a single product from a parasite can have sweeping systemic changes that are very favorable,” says Rick Maizels, a parasite immunologist at the University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom, who wasn’t involved in the research.

This study would also suggest that humans lost something when we rid ourselves of the microbes and parasites that had evolved alongside us for tens of thousands of years.

AddThis Website Tools
Youth Incorporated

Recent Posts

How AI is Revolutionizing the Beauty Industry

Beauty is one such industry that will never run out of style. The beauty industry…

4 days ago

Conquer 2025: Mukesh Patel School of Technology, Management and Engineering’s Premier Sports Festival

Conquer, the flagship sports festival of Mukesh Patel School of Technology, Management and Engineering (MPSTME),…

4 days ago

REGATTA 2025: Sailing into History with 97 Glorious Years of Legacy

The much anticipated 97th edition of COEP Technological University’s Regatta, India’s longest running college river…

4 days ago

10 Best Places To Celebrate Holi In India

Holi, known as the festival of colors is one of the most vibrant and joyful…

5 days ago

Celebrating Women Leaders Who Paved The Way In Male-dominated Fields

March 8th marks International Women's Day, a day dedicated to honor the struggles, achievements and…

1 week ago

Death as Disease? The Longevity Debate

Science is often considered the ultimate proof of truth—a seemingly objective force that reveals the…

1 week ago