Research: Fresh hope for inflammatory disorders
23 November 2005
A parasitic worm may hold the key to treating inflammatory conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and psoriasis. Researchers based at Trinity College Dublin have discovered that the worm Schistosoma mansoni, which infects over 250 million people in tropical countries, releases a molecule with strong anti-inflammatory qualities.
The Wellcome Trust-funded research team, led by Padraic Fallon, had already shown that infections of mice with schistosomes can prevent severe allergic reactions and asthma-like lung inflammation. However, humans infected with schistosome worms may develop schistosomiasis, a disease that can cause liver, bladder and intestinal damage and may even kill. The researchers therefore searched for the molecules in the worms that had specific anti-inflammatory qualities.
The molecule they discovered is released by the schistosome into host tissue, where it binds to and blocks the action of chemokines, small molecules that control how cells are recruited to or inactivated at sites of inflammation. As the increased activity of chemokines is associated with a number of inflammatory disorders, inhibiting chemokines could have a number of therapeutic applications.
This study is the first report of a human pathogen that produces a molecule that binds and inhibits chemokine activity.
The findings were reported in this week's issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine.
Copyright for image of Schistosoma mansoni: California National Primate Research Centre and Wong MM.
External links
- Schistosoma mansoni secretes a chemokine binding protein with antiinflammatory activity, Smith P. et al ( The Journal of Experimental Medicine)
- School of Biochemistry and Immunology, Trinity College Dublin