Harnett William, Harnett Margaret M
Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Strathclyde, 27 Taylor Street, Glasgow G4 0NR, United Kingdom.
Curr Allergy Asthma Rep. 2008 Sep;8(5):392-7. doi: 10.1007/s11882-008-0076-9.
Incidence of allergic diseases such as asthma has increased at an alarming rate in Western countries in the past few decades. However, in parts of the world in which parasitic nematode infections are highly prevalent, allergy remains uncommon. Hence, it has been postulated that nematodes offer humans protection against this type of disease. This article reviews the evidence to support this idea, considering data from human studies and results from investigations into the protective effects of nematodes in animal models of allergic disease. The evidence strongly favors a protective role for nematodes; thus, the search is on to find the molecules involved, with a view toward using them for therapeutic purposes. The article also describes the nature and mode of action of recently characterized nematode-derived molecules with antiallergic properties and highlights their therapeutic efficacy in allergy models.
在过去几十年中，哮喘等过敏性疾病在西方国家的发病率以惊人的速度上升。然而，在寄生虫线虫感染高度流行的世界部分地区，过敏仍然不常见。因此，有人推测线虫为人类提供了针对这类疾病的保护。本文回顾了支持这一观点的证据，考虑了来自人体研究的数据以及对线虫在过敏性疾病动物模型中的保护作用的研究结果。证据强烈支持线虫具有保护作用；因此，人们正在寻找其中涉及的分子，以期将它们用于治疗目的。本文还描述了最近鉴定出的具有抗过敏特性的线虫衍生分子的性质和作用方式，并强调了它们在过敏模型中的治疗效果。
