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A worm's eye view of the immune system: consequences for evolution of human autoimmune disease

Nature Reviews Immunology volume 5, pages 420–426 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

Humans and the many parasites that we can host have co-evolved over millions of years. This has been compared to an arms race in which the immune armoury of the human has evolved to deal with potential pathogens and the pathogen has evolved strategies to evade, and in some cases use, the immune system of the human host. Recently, there have been marked changes in the exposure of individuals in the developed world to both microorganisms and metazoan parasites, so the immune stimuli such organisms provide no longer have a role in our lives. As we discuss here, this is a marked perturbation, and the absence of the associated immunomodulation might have led to the increased emergence of autoimmune diseases.

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Figure 1: Schistosoma mansoni life cycle.
Figure 2: Induction of T-helper-1- and T-helper-2-cell responses and development of regulatory T cells after infection with Schistosoma mansoni.
Figure 3: Mechanisms by which helminths could impact on autoimmunity and allergy.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Wellcome Trust (United Kingdom) and Diabetes UK, who have supported our research into the ability of infections to modulate autoimmunity. We thank J. Connor, P. Zaccone, H. Cronin, J. Cooke, S. Efstathiou and T. Raine for discussions and for help in the preparation of this manuscript.

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    David W. Dunne & Anne Cooke

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Correspondence to Anne Cooke.

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IFN-γ

IL-4

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IL-12

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schistosomiasis

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Graves' disease

inflammatory bowel disease

multiple sclerosis

systemic lupus erythematosus

type 1 diabetes

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Dunne, D., Cooke, A. A worm's eye view of the immune system: consequences for evolution of human autoimmune disease. Nat Rev Immunol 5, 420–426 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nri1601

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