RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Worm infections represent a major global public health problem, leading to a variety of debilitating diseases and conditions, such as anemia, elephantiasis, growth retardation and dysentery. Several drugs are available to treat worm infections, but reinfection is high especially in developing countries.
Image/CDC
Now, scientists at the University of California, Riverside and colleagues around the world have made a discovery, reported in this month’s issue of PLOS Pathogens, that could lead to more effective diagnostic and treatment strategies for worm infections and their symptoms. The researchers found that resistin, an immune protein commonly found in human serum, instigates an inappropriate inflammatory response to worm infections, impairing the clearance of the worm.
“Targeting this inflammatory pathway with drugs or antibodies could be a new therapeutic strategy to treat worm infections and the associated pathology,” said Meera Nair, an assistant professor of biomedical sciences in the UC Riverside School of Medicine, whose laboratory made the discovery. “Additionally, our data point to the diagnostic potential for resistin as a new biomarker for impaired immune responses to worms.”
Read the rest of the UC Riverside news release HERE
