Immunomodulation by helminth parasites: Defining mechanisms and mediators

• Published in: International journal for parasitology 2013-03, Vol.43 (3-4), p.301-310
• Main Authors: McSorley, Henry J., Hewitson, James P., Maizels, Rick M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Allergens; Animals; Disease Models, Animal; Excretory-secretory products; Helminth Proteins - immunology; Helminthiasis - immunology; Helminthiasis - parasitology; Helminths - immunology; Helminths - physiology; Host-Parasite Interactions; Humans; Hygiene hypothesis; Immunomodulation; Immunomodulators; Nematoda
• ISSN: 0020-7519; 1879-0135
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpara.2012.11.011

[Display omitted] ► Parasite products contain immunomodulatory molecules. ► These products can suppress disease in multiple rodent models of immunopathology. ► Multiple parasites use similar immunomodulatory mechanisms. ► Parasite immunomodulators have potential as therapeutic agents for human disease. Epidemiological and interventional human studies, as well as experiments in animal models, strongly indicate that helminth parasitic infections can confer protection from immune dysregulatory diseases such as allergy, autoimmunity and colitis. Here, we review the immunological pathways that helminths exploit to downregulate immune responses, both against bystander specificities such as allergens and against antigens from the parasites themselves. In particular, we focus on a highly informative laboratory system, the mouse intestinal nematode, Heligmosomoides polygyrus, as a tractable model of host-parasite interaction at the cellular and molecular levels. Analysis of the molecules released in vitro (as excretory-secretory products) and their cellular targets is identifying individual parasite molecules and gene families implicated in immunomodulation, and which hold potential for future human therapy of immunopathological conditions.