Abstract
The morbidity associated with atopic diseases and immune dysregulation disorders such as asthma, food allergies, multiple sclerosis, atopic dermatitis, type 1 diabetes mellitus, and inflammatory bowel disease has been increasing all around the world over the past few decades. Although the roles of non-biological environmental factors and genetic factors in the etiopathology have been particularly emphasized, they do not fully explain the increase; for example, genetic factors in a population change very gradually. Epidemiological investigation has revealed that the increase also parallels a decrease in infectious diseases, especially parasitic infections. Thus, the reduced prevalence of parasitic infections may be another important reason for immune dysregulation. Parasites have co-evolved with the human immune system for a long time. Some parasite-derived immune-evasion molecules have been verified to reduce the incidence and harmfulness of atopic diseases in humans by modulating the immune response. More importantly, some parasite-derived products have been shown to inhibit the progression of inflammatory diseases and consequently alleviate their symptoms. Thus, parasites, and especially their products, may have potential applications in the treatment of autoimmune diseases. In this review, the potential of parasite-derived products and their analogs for use in the treatment of atopic diseases and immune dysregulation is summarized.
Highlights
Parasites, which have co-evolved with mammals, including humans, over a long period of time, can use various strategies to survive, such as secreting immune-evasion molecules to modulate the host immune system
Parasites need to employ various mechanisms to modulate the host immune system in order to prevent activation that may lead to their elimination and, at the same time, not cause serious immunosuppression that leads to the death of the host induced by a subsequent infectious disease
During the long history of the co-evolution of humans and parasites, parasites have adopted a parasitic lifecycle and gradually become exquisitely well-adapted to the host immune system, and they can live in the host for a long time by modulating the host immune response
Summary
Parasites, which have co-evolved with mammals, including humans, over a long period of time, can use various strategies to survive, such as secreting immune-evasion molecules to modulate the host immune system. Parasites need to employ various mechanisms to modulate the host immune system in order to prevent activation that may lead to their elimination and, at the same time, not cause serious immunosuppression that leads to the death of the host induced by a subsequent infectious disease. This mechanism of immunomodulation, avoiding excessive activation of the host immune system, can be used by the host to protect against certain inflammatory disorders. Normal TLR4 can recognize pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to recruit myeloid differentiation primary-response protein 88 (MyD88), which induces the TABLE 1 | Experimental studies and human trials of parasite-derived therapies for important autoimmune diseases
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