Nematodi mitigano autismo e autoimunità

Una possibile via per curare l'autismo, attraverso il controllo del sistema immunitario, e della risposta autoimmune, mediante Trichuris suis, un nematode. Su "The Scientist" la storia di una famiglia con un bambino affetto da autismo, e di un trattamento che ha dato risultati inattesi. (non si esclde che il bambino sia stato affetto anche da colite autoimmune, e che i benefici siano dovuti al miglioramento dell'autoimmunità)

• researchers at the University of Iowa who had successfully treated patients with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis using a nematode parasite found in the intestines of pigs—Trichuris suis

Opening a Can of Worms - The Scientist - Magazine of the Life Sciences

1. D.L. Vargas et al., “Neuroglial activation and neuroinflammation in the brain of patients with autism,” Annal Neurol, 57:67-81, 2005.

2. V. Jayanthi et al., “Epidemiology of Crohn’s disease in Indian migrants and the indigenous population in Leicestershire,” Q J Med 82:125-38, 1992.

3. R.W. Summers et al., “Trichuris suis seems to be safe and possibly effective in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease,” Am J Gastroenterol, 98:2034-41, 2003.

4. R.W. Summers et al., “Trichuris suis therapy in Crohn’s disease,” Gut, 54:87-90, 2005.

5. R.W. Summers et al., “Trichuris suis therapy for active ulcerative colitis: a randomized controlled trial,” Gastroenterology, 128:825-832, 2005.

6. J. Correale, M. Farez, “Association between parasite infection and immune responses in multiple sclerosis,” Ann Neurol, 61:97-108, 2007.

7. M.J. Broadhurst et al., “IL-22+ CD4+ T cells are associated with therapeutic Trichuris trichiura infection in an ulcerative colitis patient,” Sci Transl Med 2:60ra88, 2010.

8. L. Hang et al., “Heligmosomoides polygyrus infection can inhibit colitis through direct interaction with innate immunity,” J Immunol, 185:3184-89, 2010

A minireview by Hanada et al., (Biol. Chem. 391(12): 2010, page 1365) of this interesting system involving T-cell membrane protein ligands and ligand targets in various tissues, including specific neural and astroglial terrains in the brain may provide additional support to the findings that inflammatory responses may play a role in autism.

Un blog in inglese sui benefici del trattamento nella colite ulcerosa qui