Helminths in alternative therapeutics of inflammatory bowel disease

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, is a nonspecific chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. Despite recent advances in therapeutics and newer management strategies, IBD largely remains untreatable. Helminth therapy is a promising alte...

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Main Authors: Himani Pandey, Daryl W. T. Tang, Sunny H. Wong, Devi Lal
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Korean Association for the Study of Intestinal Diseases 2025-01-01
Series:Intestinal Research
Subjects:
Online Access:http://irjournal.org/upload/pdf/ir-2023-00059.pdf
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author Himani Pandey
Daryl W. T. Tang
Sunny H. Wong
Devi Lal
author_facet Himani Pandey
Daryl W. T. Tang
Sunny H. Wong
Devi Lal
author_sort Himani Pandey
collection DOAJ
description Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, is a nonspecific chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. Despite recent advances in therapeutics and newer management strategies, IBD largely remains untreatable. Helminth therapy is a promising alternative therapeutic for IBD that has gained some attention in the last two decades. Helminths have immunomodulatory effects and can alter the gut microbiota. The immunomodulatory effects include a strong Th2 immune response, T-regulatory cell response, and the production of regulatory cytokines. Although concrete evidence regarding the efficacy of helminth therapy in IBD is lacking, clinical studies and studies done in animal models have shown some promise. Most clinical studies have shown that helminth therapy is safe and easily tolerable. Extensive work has been done on the whipworm Trichuris, but other helminths, including Schistosoma, Trichinella, Heligmosomoides, and Ancylostoma, have also been explored for pre-clinical and animal studies. This review article summarizes the potential of helminth therapy as an alternative therapeutic or an adjuvant to the existing therapeutic procedures for IBD treatment.
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institution Kabale University
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language English
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publisher Korean Association for the Study of Intestinal Diseases
record_format Article
series Intestinal Research
spelling doaj-art-15c1144b11cf4f90b7f273a8669293852025-08-20T03:53:46ZengKorean Association for the Study of Intestinal DiseasesIntestinal Research1598-91002288-19562025-01-0123182210.5217/ir.2023.000591036Helminths in alternative therapeutics of inflammatory bowel diseaseHimani Pandey0Daryl W. T. Tang1Sunny H. Wong2Devi Lal3 Redcliffe Labs, Noida, India School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Centre for Microbiome Medicine, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Department of Zoology, Ramjas College, University of Delhi, Delhi, IndiaInflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, is a nonspecific chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. Despite recent advances in therapeutics and newer management strategies, IBD largely remains untreatable. Helminth therapy is a promising alternative therapeutic for IBD that has gained some attention in the last two decades. Helminths have immunomodulatory effects and can alter the gut microbiota. The immunomodulatory effects include a strong Th2 immune response, T-regulatory cell response, and the production of regulatory cytokines. Although concrete evidence regarding the efficacy of helminth therapy in IBD is lacking, clinical studies and studies done in animal models have shown some promise. Most clinical studies have shown that helminth therapy is safe and easily tolerable. Extensive work has been done on the whipworm Trichuris, but other helminths, including Schistosoma, Trichinella, Heligmosomoides, and Ancylostoma, have also been explored for pre-clinical and animal studies. This review article summarizes the potential of helminth therapy as an alternative therapeutic or an adjuvant to the existing therapeutic procedures for IBD treatment.http://irjournal.org/upload/pdf/ir-2023-00059.pdfinflammatory bowel diseaseulcerative colitiscrohn diseasehelminthsmicrobiota
spellingShingle Himani Pandey
Daryl W. T. Tang
Sunny H. Wong
Devi Lal
Helminths in alternative therapeutics of inflammatory bowel disease
Intestinal Research
inflammatory bowel disease
ulcerative colitis
crohn disease
helminths
microbiota
title Helminths in alternative therapeutics of inflammatory bowel disease
title_full Helminths in alternative therapeutics of inflammatory bowel disease
title_fullStr Helminths in alternative therapeutics of inflammatory bowel disease
title_full_unstemmed Helminths in alternative therapeutics of inflammatory bowel disease
title_short Helminths in alternative therapeutics of inflammatory bowel disease
title_sort helminths in alternative therapeutics of inflammatory bowel disease
topic inflammatory bowel disease
ulcerative colitis
crohn disease
helminths
microbiota
url http://irjournal.org/upload/pdf/ir-2023-00059.pdf
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AT sunnyhwong helminthsinalternativetherapeuticsofinflammatoryboweldisease
AT devilal helminthsinalternativetherapeuticsofinflammatoryboweldisease