Smyth Kendra, Morton Claire, Mathew Amanda, Karuturi Sahil, Haley Cliff, Zhang Min, Holzknecht Zoie E, Swanson Chelsea, Lin Shu S, Parker William
University Program in Ecology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA.
Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
J Clin Med. 2017 Oct 24;6(10):98. doi: 10.3390/jcm6100098.
Helminthic therapy has shown considerable promise as a means of alleviating some inflammatory diseases that have proven resistant to pharmaceutical intervention. However, research in the field has been limited by a lack of availability to clinician scientists of a helminth that is relatively benign, non-communicable, affordable, and effectively treats disease. Previous socio-medical studies have found that some individuals self-treating with helminths to alleviate various diseases are using the rat tapeworm (cysticercoid developmental stage of ; HDC). In this study, we describe the production and use of HDCs in a manner that is based on reports from individuals self-treating with helminths, individuals producing helminths for self-treatment, and physicians monitoring patients that are self-treating. The helminth may fit the criteria needed by clinical scientists for clinical trials, and the methodology is apparently feasible for any medical center to reproduce. It is hoped that future clinical trials using this organism may shed light on the potential for helminthic therapy to alleviate inflammatory diseases. Further, it is hoped that studies with HDCs may provide a stepping stone toward population-wide restoration of the biota of the human body, potentially reversing the inflammatory consequences of biota depletion that currently affect Western society.
蠕虫疗法作为缓解某些对药物干预有抗性的炎症性疾病的一种手段，已显示出相当大的前景。然而，该领域的研究受到限制，因为临床科学家缺乏一种相对良性、无传染性、价格可承受且能有效治疗疾病的蠕虫。先前的社会医学研究发现，一些自行使用蠕虫来缓解各种疾病的个体正在使用大鼠绦虫（HDC的囊尾蚴发育阶段）。在本研究中，我们以基于自行使用蠕虫治疗的个体、自行生产蠕虫用于自我治疗的个体以及监测自行治疗患者的医生的报告的方式，描述了HDC的生产和使用。这种蠕虫可能符合临床科学家进行临床试验所需的标准，并且该方法对于任何医疗中心来说显然都可行复制。希望未来使用这种生物体的临床试验能够揭示蠕虫疗法缓解炎症性疾病的潜力。此外，希望对HDC的研究能够为在人群范围内恢复人体生物群系提供一个跳板，有可能扭转目前影响西方社会的生物群系耗竭的炎症后果。
