Article - Opening a can of worms

[Guest guest]

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.

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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