Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa 52242-1009, USA.
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2009;666:157-66. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4419-1601-3_12.
There is an epidemic of immune-mediated disease in highly-developed industrialized countries. Such diseases, like inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis and asthma increase in prevalence as populations adopt modern hygienic practices. These practices prevent exposure to parasitic worms (helminths). Epidemiologic studies suggest that people who carry helminths have less immune-mediated disease. Mice colonized with helminths are protected from disease in models of colitis, encephalitis, Type 1 diabetes and asthma. Clinical trials show that exposure to helminths reduce disease activity in patients with ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease. This chapter reviews some of the work showing that colonization with helminths alters immune responses, against dysregulated inflammation. These helminth-host immune interactions have potentially important implications for the treatment of immune-mediated diseases.
在高度发达的工业化国家中，存在着免疫介导性疾病的流行。此类疾病（如炎症性肠病、多发性硬化症和哮喘）在人群中采用现代卫生实践时，其发病率会增加。这些实践可防止寄生虫（蠕虫）的暴露。流行病学研究表明，携带寄生虫的人患免疫介导性疾病的几率较低。在结肠炎、脑炎、1 型糖尿病和哮喘的模型中，定植蠕虫的小鼠可免受疾病的侵害。临床试验表明，接触蠕虫可降低溃疡性结肠炎或克罗恩病患者的疾病活动度。本章回顾了一些研究工作，这些工作表明，蠕虫定植会改变针对失调性炎症的免疫反应。这些蠕虫-宿主免疫相互作用可能对免疫介导性疾病的治疗具有重要意义。
