Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
Institut für Philosophie I, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
Bioessays. 2024 Nov;46(11):e2400080. doi: 10.1002/bies.202400080. Epub 2024 Sep 12.
In this manuscript, we explore the potential therapeutic use of helminths. After analyzing helminths' role in connection with human health from the perspective of their symbiotic and evolutionary relationship, we critically examine some studies on their therapeutic applications. In doing so, we focus on some prominent mechanisms of action and potential benefits, but also on the exaggerations and theoretical and methodological difficulties of such proposals. We conclude that further studies are needed to fully explore the potential benefits of this perspective, and we encourage the scientific community in doing so.
在本手稿中,我们探讨了寄生虫的潜在治疗用途。在从共生和进化关系的角度分析了寄生虫在人类健康中的作用之后,我们批判性地研究了一些关于它们治疗应用的研究。在这样做的过程中,我们关注了一些突出的作用机制和潜在的益处,但也关注了这些提议的夸大和理论及方法上的困难。我们的结论是,需要进一步的研究来充分探索这一视角的潜在益处,我们鼓励科学界这样做。