Worms as therapeutic agents for allergy and asthma: Understanding why benefits in animal studies have not translated into clinical success - 05/02/15
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Abstract |
Helminth infections are associated with decreased rates of autoimmunity and allergy, and several clinical studies have demonstrated that intentional infection with helminths can reduce symptoms of autoimmune diseases. In contrast, though numerous animal studies have demonstrated that helminth infections ameliorate allergic diseases, clinical trials in humans have not shown benefit. In this article, we review in detail the 2 human studies that have prospectively tested whether helminth infections protect against allergy. We next review the research designs and results obtained from animal studies, and compare these to the human trials. We then postulate possible reasons for the lack of efficacy observed in clinical trials to date and discuss potential future areas of research in this field.
Le texte complet de cet article est disponible en PDF.Key words : Allergy, asthma, atopy, helminths, therapeutics, clinical trials, animal models, hygiene hypothesis
Abbreviations used : AHR, As-MIF, BALF, Cs-TP, NES, OVA, TSO
Plan
Disclosure of potential conflict of interest: E. Mitre has received research support from the National Institutes of Health and has patents (US Patent Office Patents) submitted through the Henry Jackson Foundation. H. Evans declares that she has no relevant conflicts of interest. |
Vol 135 - N° 2
P. 343-353 - février 2015 Retour au numéroBienvenue sur EM-consulte, la référence des professionnels de santé.
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