Serum levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BNDF) in multiple sclerosis patients with Trichuris suis ova therapy

Microbiota, IgA and Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neuroinflammatory disease characterized by immune cell infiltration in the central nervous system and destruction of myelin sheaths. Alterations of gut bacteria abundances are present in MS patients. In mouse models of neuroinflammation, depletion of microbiota results in amelioration of symptoms, and gavage with MS patient microbiota exacerbates the disease and inflammation via Th17 cells. On the other hand, depletion of B cells using anti-CD20 is an efficient therapy in MS, and growing evidence shows an important deleterious role of B cells in MS pathology. However, the failure of TACI-Ig treatment in MS highlighted the potential regulatory role of plasma cells. The mechanism was recently demonstrated involving IgA+ plasma cells, specific for gut microbiota and producing IL-10. IgA-coated bacteria in MS patient gut exhibit also modifications. We will focus our review on IgA interactions with gut microbiota and IgA+ B cells in MS. These recent data emphasize new pathways of neuroinflammation regulation in MS.

Therapeutic exploitation of IPSE, a urogenital parasite-derived host modulatory protein, for chemotherapy-induced hemorrhagic cystitis

Chemotherapy-induced hemorrhagic cystitis (CHC) can be difficult to manage. Prior work suggests that IL-4 alleviates ifosfamide-induced hemorrhagic cystitis (IHC), but systemically administered IL-4 causes significant side effects. We hypothesized that the Schistosoma hematobium homolog of IL-4-inducing principle from Schistosoma mansoni eggs (H-IPSE), would reduce IHC and associated bladder pathology. IPSE binds IgE on basophils and mast cells, triggering IL-4 secretion by these cells. IPSE is also an “infiltrin,” translocating into the host nucleus to modulate gene transcription. Mice were administered IL-4, H-IPSE protein or its nuclear localization sequence (NLS) mutant, with or without neutralizing anti-IL-4 antibody, or 2-mercaptoethane sulfonate sodium (MESNA; a drug used to prevent IHC), followed by ifosfamide. Bladder tissue damage and hemoglobin content were measured. Spontaneous and evoked pain, urinary frequency, and bladdergene expression analysis were assessed. Pain behaviors were interpreted in a blinded fashion. One dose of H-IPSE was superior to MESNA and IL-4 in suppressing bladder hemorrhage in an IL-4-dependent fashion and comparable with MESNA in dampening ifosfamide-triggered pain behaviors in an NLS-dependent manner. H-IPSE also accelerated urothelial repair following IHC. Our work represents the first therapeutic exploitation of a uropathogen-derived host modulatory molecule in a clinically relevant bladder disease model and indicates that IPSE may be an alternative to MESNA for mitigating CHC.—Mbanefo, E. C., Le, L., Pennington, L. F., Odegaard, J. I., Jardetzky, T. S., Alouffi, A., Falcone, F. H., Hsieh, M. H. Therapeutic exploitation of IPSE, a urogenital parasite-derived host modulatory protein, for chemotherapy-induced hemorrhagic cystitis.

Probiotics and Disease: A Comprehensive Summary-Part 1, Mental and Neurological Health

This article series provides a literature review of the disease-specific probiotic strains studied in published clinical trials in humans and animals. The goal of the series is to provide clinically useful tools. The table designs allow for quick access to supportive data related to disease states and will be helpful as a guide for both researchers and clinicians. This first article (part 1) focuses on mental health and neurological conditions. Future articles in this series will review conditions related to cardiometabolic and fatigue syndromes; ear, nose, throat, respiratory, and infectious diseases; immune and dermatological conditions; cancer, gastrointestinal and genitourinary; followed by an article focused on food-based probiotic strains and nutritional supplements. This literature review is specific to condition, probiotic, and strain and also lists currently available products and foods in which these probiotics can be found. In part 1, we explore the role of probiotics in balancing mental health and neurological issues. Conditions in mental health include anxiety, depression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and autism. Neurological conditions include age-related cognitive decline, hepatic encephalopathy, cerebral ischemia and reperfusion, traumatic brain injury, and multiple sclerosis.

Helminth therapy for organic diseases?

Autoimmune and chronic inflammatory organic diseases represent a "postindustrial revolution epidemics," and their frequency has increased dramatically in the last century. Today, it is assumed that the increase in hygiene standards reduced the interactions with helminth parasites that coevolved with the immune system and are crucial for its proper functioning. Several helminths have been proposed and tested in the search of the ideal therapeutic. In this review, the authors summarize the translational and clinical studies and review the caveats and possible solutions for the optimization of helminth therapies.

Helminth Therapy for MS

In the last 50 years, environmental factors such as helminth infections have been proposed to explain why autoimmunity is less prevalent in the developing world; this proposal has been termed the hygiene or old friends hypothesis. The epidemiology of MS shows an inverse correlation with helminth infections. Positive effects of helminths in animal models of MS and observational studies in people with MS naturally infected with helminths suggest that those organisms can act as immune regulators and led to clinical trials of helminth therapy. The goal of helminth therapy is to introduce parasitic organisms into people with MS in a controlled and predictable fashion, and to prevent immune-mediated disease without increasing the risk of pathology with high parasite load. This chapter focuses on intestinal worms as they are the current choice as a therapeutic strategy in a number of autoimmune diseases, including MS. Here we review current data regarding the rationale and the current state of research in the field of helminth therapies in MS.