Re: Article - Opening a can of worms

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This does sound kinda gross but interesting at the same time. I'd be interested in reading more about this. ne

From: <@...>Subject: ( ) Article - Opening a can of worms Date: Tuesday, February 8, 2011, 7:29 PM

This sounds "yucky" but it is interesting. I'd read about this in relation to Crohn's or something similar before but this time it relates to autism. I don't know if you have to "subscribe" to see the article, will post the link plus a *few* paragraphs below. Sorry for the length but long article so just sharing some hilites. ****************http://www.the-scientist.com/2011/2/1/42/1/In 2005 the family was at its breaking point. Lawrence, the family's 13-year-old son, was diagnosed with autism at age two and a half, and his parents had valiantly coped with his illness for the ensuing decade.Throughout his childhood, Lawrence's disorder progressed along the typical path: he would not engage in pretend play like other children, he repeated himself incessantly, his interests were very restricted, and he was

frequently agitated and anxious.By his teenage years, Lawrence had veered into the dangerous realm of self abuse. He smashed his head against the wall dozens of times a day. He bit himself until he bled. He gouged at his eyes and tore at his face. A normal school experience was virtually impossible. He couldn't walk a single block from the family's Brooklyn brownstone without kicking and screaming when a traffic light changed at the wrong moment or streets were crossed in an unacceptable order. "If people haven't actually experienced those symptoms of autism, they're the killer," says , Lawrence's father. "They're the things that destroy families." His search would lead him to an idea that, on its face, might seem just as farfetched as some of the alternative autism treatments calls "junk science." He discovered the work of a trio of physician/researchers at the University of Iowa who had successfully treated patients with

Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis using a nematode parasite found in the intestines of pigs—Trichuris suis, the pig whipworm. Both are autoimmune disorders in which the immune system essentially attacks the intestinal walls. also found data that pointed to a link between some autism symptoms and inflated levels of proinflamma & #8203;tory cytokines, an apparent result of the immune system attacking glial cells in patients' brains.1 Putting these bits of information together, wrote a short review paper and presented it to Hollander. His central hypothesis was that parasitic worm infection would modulate Lawrence's immune system and calm inflammation that was causing his disruptive behaviors. "I had never heard of it before," Hollander, now at the Montefiore Medical Center University Hospital of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, admits. "It was a new thought. I looked into the literature and there did seem to be

data supporting the basic hypothesis and some data in other conditions in terms of efficacy." Hollander was impressed with 's research and agreed to help him obtain sterile, treatment-grade T. suis eggs that were being grown and tested in Europe by the German company OvaMed. But when contacted OvaMed's president Detlev Goj to inform him of the dispiriting results, his hope was renewed. Goj told him that Lawrence's response to the low dose of worm eggs—1,000 ova every two weeks as opposed to 2,500 in the promising Crohn's and ulcerative colitis trials—actually fit the profile of a potential responder. He recommended that they give Lawrence 2,500 eggs every two weeks for a period and see what happened. relayed the information to Hollander, and they prepared to conduct another trial, this time at the full dose. The family anxiously awaited the effects of the full dose of TSO on Lawrence's violent behavior.

Within 10 weeks of the higher-dose treatment, the autistic boy stopped smashing his head against walls. He stopped gouging at his eyes. The paralysis and frustration that held him and his family prisoners in their own home lifted. The freak outs ceased. "It wasn't gradations," remembers , who had always kept meticulous notes on Lawrence's disorder and the interventions they had attempted. "It just went away. All these behaviors just disappeared." Elated, called Lawrence's doctor, Hollander. "He was stunned, because all of that behavior set was gone," says. "He was speechless, as I was."......................................Meanwhile, Lawrence , now 20 years old, continues to respond positively to treatment with T. suis eggs. Because the parasites are flushed from his system regularly, he takes a dose of TSO as his father sees the need, roughly every two weeks. Though this costs and his family about 600

Euros a month, he says the treatment has changed their lives and that it's well worth the price. "There're no words to describe it. It's like giving me my son back," he says. "Or in many ways, like giving me a son that I didn't ever have." Since seeing the positive effects of TSO on Lawrence's worst behaviors, has launched a Web site, autismtso.com, to share his family's experience and inform other parents of current research and the progress of the clinical trial at the Seaver Center. He also wrote a chapter about his experience with TSO treatment in the recently published Textbook of Autism Spectrum Disorders.9 Even given the remarkable contributions he's made in the field of helminthic therapy, remains realistic about his continued contribution. "Am I the one who's going to find out the underlying mechanism by which helminths interact with the immune system?" he asks. "No. I am definitely not that person. But I got us

to this point, and now hopefully others can figure that out, and hopefully there is a connection and this will help other people."Read more: Opening a Can of Worms - The Scientist - Magazine of the Life Sciences http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/57941/#ixzz1DPuhkiEC

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