ABSTRACT

The incidence of atopic and autoimmune diseases has been rising all over the world, so the design of new drugs to prevent and treat these diseases should not be delayed. Epidemiological investigations revealed that the increase also parallels a decrease in infectious diseases, especially helminth's infections. In the past decade, helminth' infections became less common due to the developed sanitation. Meanwhile, atopic and autoimmune diseases' incidences were increasing, which cannot be explained by the changes of susceptibility genes. Thus, immune dysregulation may be related to reduced prevalence of helminths' infections. Helminths' products have been used to prevent the development of inflammatory diseases and reduce their symptoms. Several studies on animal models and clinical trials were conducted to detect the efficiency of helminth molecules in immune modulating of atopic and autoimmune diseases. Making use of their ability for immunomodulation may lead to the introduction of effective therapies for such diseases.