The Use of the Crude Extract of Immuno-Activated C.elegans as Treatment for Inflammation
by Malcolm Owusu
Category: Biology
Abstract – Helminth therapy involves infecting oneself with parasites to treat illnesses by shifting the immune response from Th1 to Th2. However, this carries numerous health risks. To minimize these, crude extracts of C.Elegans, which produce the required secretory proteins, can be used. C. Elegans' innate immune systems can be altered using pathogens to change their genomes and thus the secretory proteins. Inflammation can be induced in zebrafish embryos to measure inflammation, and results suggest that C. Elegans crude extract can treat inflammation and regulate the immune response, paving the way for its use in chronic inflammatory disorders.