Helminths Flashcards
Wucheria bancrofti damage
Mostly immunopathology
Schisto damage
Mostly immunopathology
Geohelminths
Subtle morbidities, intestinal obstruction, rectal prolapse.
Cestodes
Subtle morbidities.
Onchocerca
river blindness
Guinea worms
Draculoniasis, immune component.
platyhelminths
trematodes and cestodes
WHO’s NTDs
8 are caused by parasitic worms. These are diseases of poverty. Include tape worm, guinea worm, liver flukes, filarial nematodes, schisto and gut nematodes.
About 1/5 of the world pop harbours an intestinal worm.
Helminth damage worldwide
Most cause chronic insidious disease rather than acute —> difficult to assess global impact on host population —> have to use DALYs which combine years of life lost to premature mortality and years lived with disability
NTDs collectively estimated to have caused around 26m DALYs worldwide with greatest contribution form helminths (exceed TB and malaria)
Helminth damage, classes
Direct
Subtle morbidities
Indirect immunopathology
Overdispersion
Helminth and host evolution
Until quite recently, the majority of Homo sapiens were colonized by at least one helminth —> close relationship led to the evolution of “disease tolerance” by the host —> mammalian host has evolved mechanisms to minimize the virulence of helminths, without necessarily reducing worm burden —> large proportion of infected individuals are relatively tolerant to colonization with helminths.
Ascaris
Faeco-oral transmission Highly prevalent No clear antigen protection Feed on luminal contents Often asymptomatic.
Ascaris damage
Fatal intestinal blockage.
Damage to lungs during migration.
Allergic response to metabolites —> rashes, eye pain and asthma
decreased
Vitamin A absorption, lactose intolerance and malnutrition
Hookworm
Necator americanis. Active penetration, not faeco-oral.
Hookworm damage to hosts
worms feed on blood —> can lose up to 200ml a day —>iron/protein-deficiency anaemia and intestinal inflammation.
Intermittent abdo pain and loss of appetite
Larval invasion of skin —> intense, local itching and Cutaneous larva migrans (due to migration in torturous tunnels between stratum basal and corneum of skin)
Models of immunity to nematodes
Based on mouse models. Trichinella spiralis and trichuris muris.
Models of immunity to nematodes
Th2 response with high IgE, peripheral eosinophilia, gut mastocytosis and goblet cell hyperplasia
immunity transferable with CD4+ cells
IL-13 contributes to helminth expulsion
Immunity to nematodes with low egg dose.
low egg dose (like in wild) doesn’t generate protective Th2 response, instead get reinfection susceptible Th1 response —> chronic infection; but repeated low exposure will gradually lead to resistance
Subtle morbidies
Anemia, growth stunting, protein-calorie undernutrition, fatigue, and poor cognitive development —> hard to associate to single aetiology
Important due to prevalence in developing world.
Iron deficiency anaemia
most common and widespread nutritional disorder in world (>30%)
around half of pregnant women in the developing world —> contributes to to 20% of maternal deaths and associated with preterm birth and low birth weight —> mebendazole treatment reduces effect
similar distribution to helminthic diseases and positive correlation with severe anaemia
Malnutrition - effects, deworming
short term effects = wasting, long term = stunting
may be through increased TNFα production (trichuris)
After deworming with albendazole children showed increased weight for age and height
Physical fitness morbidity
Treatment with albendazole lead to significant increase in activity levels, decreased resting HR and quicker return to resting HR after exercise
Cognitive function subtle morbidity
Decreased performance with increased trichuris eggs but no control for school attendence
Verbal fluency increased much more with treatment of wasted compared to control than none-wasted
IgE to schisto
IgE raised
IgG:IgE balance important
IgE interaction with eosinophils in ADCC seems to be protective.
IgE raised in schistosomiasis.
both polyclonal and specific —> binds both to helminth and immune cells (macrophages, DCs, mast cells and basophils) through FcεRI —> cross linking gives release of histamine and inflammatory cytokines (egg stage responsible for induction) —> IgE to worm age correlates with protection from reinfection
Lymphatic filiariasis damage to host
In LF adult worms release Ag -> inflammation blcks lymph vessels –> oedema –> elephantiasis and hydroceles.
Onchocerca damage to host.
Microfilaria invade eye -> inflammation and fibrosis -> river blindness.
Hygiene hypothesis.
Helminths might be protective against autoimmunity
smTAL1
Allergen like protein in schisto with Ntd with EF hands. EF hands = structural motif shared with major fish and pollen Ags.
smTALs
smTAL1 = adult worm Ag released on rare occasions, smTAL2 = egg and adult ag released continuously as eggs die.
smTAL2
probably protective = tolerance to allergen that is encountered repeatedly in small doses to prevent long term tissue inflammation and damage which would be fatal to host —> resembles allergen immunotherapy (repeated subcutaneous injections of small doses of allergen over a period of time —> increases IgG4, IL-10 and TGFβ maybe due to Tregs)
Cross reactivity
larval smTAL5 doesn’t induce specific response but binds smTAL3-Ige due to cross-reactivity —> could explain age-dep concommitant immunity (immunity induced by existing worms that prevents new incoming infection)
Allergen molecules
all from small number of protein families - most have homologues in metazoan parasites (5 of top 10 allergens) —> IgE didn’t evolve to target allergens but parasites to which are proteins are much more similar than bacteria
Evidence for relation between allergy and helminths
Types of allergens
Epidemiology
Intervention studies.
Mouse model
Anti-worm treatment and dust mite allergies.
Antiworm treatment in children shown to increase SPT results to dust mite Ags, and long term treated communities had twice SPT incidence as non treated —> in general allergic disease much less prevalent in less developed countries
Helminth infection suppressing allergy - mechanisms
increased IgE competing with anti-allergen IgE for Rs on cells
production of Tregs
production or regulatory cytokines IL-10 an TGFβ
Μοdified Th2 response seen in helminth infection seems to be important with alternatively activated macrophages stimulating Th2 response and IL-10 production —> IgG4 production; Tregs —> immunosuppression
Control of helminths
Chemotherapy.
Vaccines?
Chemotherapy for helminths.
Effective treatments are available for most e.g. praziquantal for schisto,
Problems: still get rapid post treatment reinfection, pathology remaining after elimination of parasites (e.g. filarial nematodes) and interruption of MDA due to war, famine, drought etc.
Vaccines for helminths
hookworm vaccin ASP-2 —> effective in animal studies and uninfected americans but in endemic brazil cause whole body urticaria —> reactions associated with pre-existing Asp-2 IgE —> histamine release
in natural infection don’t get same response as not systemic
Helminths immunopathology
Primary chronic manifestations
s.m. –> liver conditions, intestinal conditions, bladder.
w.b. elephantiasis and hydrocele.
Trichinella, trichuris and schistosome migration –> villous atrophy and diarrhoeia.
Anemia prevalence
2 billion people
40% school aged children
1 in 2 pregnant women in the developing world
20% maternal deaths!
Evidence for association of anemia in pregnancy with hookworm.
Correlation between hookworm egg count and fecal haemoglobin and IDA
Brooker: 12 studies light vs unifected (no sig difference), 7 studies light vs heavily infected (sig diff).
Mebendazole and Albendazole treatment during pregnancy appears to lower risk of still birth and increase mean birthweight
Assessment of poor nutritional status.
Assessed using Z scores , -2 is the cut off!
Stephenson: Trichuris treatment increases weight 4 age, weight 4 height etc
Positive correlation between treatment for hookworm ascaris trichuris and increase in
weight for height
Increase in appetite : self reported, and no of kJ in 4 months post albendazole treatment
TNFa, worm infection and poor nutritional status.
MacDonald 1994 showed an increase in the TNFa in plasma and produced by gut cells of
infected vs uninfected. Rats injected with TNFa have decreased apetite
Recovering height deficit cause by poor nutritional status.
Girls can recover the height deficit before menarche : menarche is later in more stunted populations: Norway 1860: 15.6 yrs, Norway 1940: 13.3yrs Morabia 1998
Leensha : puberty in Kenyan School girls 12yrs, menarche a 15 yrs
Callender : Growth and development 4 years after treatment for trichuris dysentery:
o Potential for catch up growth
o Still slower cognitive function
o Window period for both?
Poor nutritional status studies
Stephenson - weight for age.
MacDonald - TNFa
Callender - catch up growth.
Poor physical fitness studies
Adams 1994 treated vs untreated.
Stephenson linear regression.
Kenyan study.
Poor cognitive function study.
Simeon, but difficult to assess.
Poor physical fitness - Adams study.
Adams 1994 albendazole treated group much greater observed activity than untreated
Poor physical fitness - Stephenson study.
Stephenson showed that weight gain, appetite and worm count were all significant
predictors of physical activity in a linear regression model measuring the VO2 max in
school children in China
Poor physical fitness study, Kenyan study.
Kenyan study 2011 used a 20m shuttle run as a measure of fitness
o Easy low resource measure
o Exercise intolerance associated with anemia, stunting and wasting
Poor cognitive function, Simeon study.
School attendance, reading, arithmetic and spelling all drop
o Reading and arithmetic still significantly impacted when controlling for age, sex
SES and school attendance
o Treatment of Trichuris trichuria significantly improves scores if
V heavily infected >7000 epg
Or if v low Z score Z