Experts at Edinburgh University believe that tiny worms could hold the key to new treatments for conditions like asthma and hay fever. They have found that the parasites, called helminths, could fool the body’s immune system so that they were not attacked. Scientists hope to copy the worms’ survival tactics as they work on suppressing allergic reactions. The aim would be to reduce the need for drugs or vaccinations. The scientists said it was the first time a breakthrough of its kind had been explored to curb tropical diseases, such as filariasis and schistosomiasis, which affect one in four people in the world. The team has been focusing on the role played by regulatory cells, which protect the body. The cells decide when to stop the immune system from attacking the body’s own proteins and also prevent it from attacking harmless molecules. It is thought that helminths produce molecules that trigger a response in regulatory cells, which tricks the body into switching off the response that would kill the parasites. The university’s School of Biological Sciences has been awarded £1.3m by the Wellcome Trust to carry out the research.
