Protein found in hookworm ‘soup’ could fight asthma, other autoimmune diseases

A lab led by molecular parasitologist, Alex Loukas, has been analyzing hookworms and have found that they may be able to aid in the reduction of auto-inflammatory responses in diseases like asthma, Crohn's and celiac disease, and ulcerative colitis.  Hookworms have been around for a very long time, and when they get into a host they can cause nausea, anemia, cramping, fever, and a number of other symptoms. In the past century, humans have effectively reduced the abundance of hookworms in our offspring and have greatly reduced the abundance of hookworms in humans, and consequently the number of people that have these auto-immune diseases has also greatly increased. The scientific team studying these organisms has discovered that they may also have some traits that can combat these harmful diseases in humans.

Close up photo of a hookworm

The key isn't really in the hookworms, but the liquid that these worms secrete.  There is a protein in the fluid called AIP-2, which when injected into mice, alleviates their auto-immune responses.  In the experiment, the treated animals' diseases were almost completely reversed, and they also found that it shifted the balance of immune cells like T cells and dendritic cells.  This can be helpful in battling harmful immune reactions in the lungs.  Though the research is far away from any human testing, this may be a great discovery for treating diseases that cause a lot of ailment to humans.  This experiment also shows that our relationship to parasites should be altered. Parasites are only known to be harmful to us, but if we open our minds, we can discover completely new helpful relationships with these organisms in order to improve our quality of life.  In fact, the role could be completely reversed in which we harm those organisms for our own gain in health benefits.

Using a Parasites Genome Against Itself

Parasitic hookworms are known to infect over 1 billion individuals worldwide, with many of these people living in undeveloped or developing countries. "A parasitic infection is a balance between the parasites trying to suppress the immune system and the host trying to attack the parasite." (MNT) Water and Sanitation in many of these developing countries is poor and causes  gastrointestinal issues, eyesight problems, and stunted growth in individuals. Although there are medications to kill hookworms, like many bacteria(some of which are resistant to antibiotics) they are developing a resistance to the medications. "As part of the search for effective new drugs, Sternberg(Professor of Biology at Caltech and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator) and his colleagues investigated the genome of a hookworm species known as Ancylostoma ceylanicum." (MNT 1) The researchers decided to sequence 313 million nucleotides of the A. ceylancium genome and found that it is roughly 10% of the size of the human genome. Seeign as though there were over 30,000 genes the began looking at RNA to find out which genes were turned on when the parasite infected its host. There are 90 ASPR proteins (activation-associated secreted proteins) and the thought is that by targeting these genes, better treatments and medications can be provided to those that are infected.

I believe that this is an amazing discovery that will be very helpful for people in countries were parasites are primarily found. I also think this will be good for people that choose to go to these countries, as a way to prevent themselves from becoming infected.