October 22, 2009
Article from: The Australian
SCIENTISTS are getting closer to a new therapy for immune disorders, but many people will find the treatment, involving a parasitic worm, hard to swallow.
Researcher James Daveson admits there is a "yuck factor" in his work, after he deliberately infected 20 volunteers who have coeliac disease with hookworms.
The parasite, which burrows through the skin before travelling via the bloodstream to live in the gut, was shown to give these people an improved tolerance for bread.
"The people playing host to live worms tolerated the gluten challenge and fared better on the tests compared with the wormless control subjects," said Dr Daveson, from Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital.
More than 250,000 Australians have coeliac disease, a condition in which their malfunctioning immune system treats the gluten in wheat as a foreign invader.
Antibodies are produced that attack the wall of the bowel and over time this damage can increase a sufferer's risk of bowel cancer.
Dr Daveson said the research was based on the theory that immune systems needed exposure to foreign organisms -- such as hookworms -- to make them work properly.
AAP
Article from: The Australian
SCIENTISTS are getting closer to a new therapy for immune disorders, but many people will find the treatment, involving a parasitic worm, hard to swallow.
Researcher James Daveson admits there is a "yuck factor" in his work, after he deliberately infected 20 volunteers who have coeliac disease with hookworms.
The parasite, which burrows through the skin before travelling via the bloodstream to live in the gut, was shown to give these people an improved tolerance for bread.
"The people playing host to live worms tolerated the gluten challenge and fared better on the tests compared with the wormless control subjects," said Dr Daveson, from Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital.
More than 250,000 Australians have coeliac disease, a condition in which their malfunctioning immune system treats the gluten in wheat as a foreign invader.
Antibodies are produced that attack the wall of the bowel and over time this damage can increase a sufferer's risk of bowel cancer.
Dr Daveson said the research was based on the theory that immune systems needed exposure to foreign organisms -- such as hookworms -- to make them work properly.
AAP
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