Trial reportBMC biology2021
Experimental infection with the hookworm, Necator americanus, is associated with stable gut microbial diversity in human volunteers with relapsing multiple sclerosis.
Trial report in BMC biology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Hidden Link Between Intestinal Helminthiasis, Gut Microbiome Alterations, and Colorectal Cancer Risk: A Systematic Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Pooled it
- Trial
- The dual role of intestinal parasites in shaping human gut microbiota: distinguishing helminthic and protozoan dynamics.Gut pathogens · 2026Review
- Treatment With Schistosoma Japonicum Peptide SJMHE1 and SJMHE1-Loaded Hydrogel for the Mitigation of Psoriasis.Psoriasis (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2025Article
- Review
- Geohelminths: Use in the Treatment of Selected Human Diseases.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Involvement of gut microbiota in multiple sclerosis-review of a new pathophysiological hypothesis and potential treatment target.Immunologic research · 2024Review
- Review
- The Impact of Intestinal Inflammation on Nematode's Excretory-Secretory Proteome.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Exploring the antimicrobial peptidome of nematodes through phylum-spanning in silico analyses highlights novel opportunities for pathogen control.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2023Article
- Novel integrated computational AMP discovery approaches highlight diversity in the helminth AMP repertoire.PLoS pathogens · 2023Article
- Helminth Lessons in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD).Biomedicines · 2023Review
- Effects of helminths on the human immune response and the microbiome.Mucosal immunology · 2022Review
- Worms and bugs of the gut: the search for diagnostic signatures using barcoding, and metagenomics-metabolomics.Parasites & vectors · 2022Review
- Microbiota, IgA and Multiple Sclerosis.Microorganisms · 2022Review
- Article
- Clinical Parasitology and Parasitome Maps as Old and New Tools to Improve Clinical Microbiomics.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- Interactions between parasitic helminths and gut microbiota in wild tropical primates from intact and fragmented habitats.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Editorial: Systems Biology of Hosts, Parasites and Vectors.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2021Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundHelminth-associated changes in gut microbiota composition have been hypothesised to contribute to the immune-suppressive properties of parasitic worms. Multiple sclerosis is an immune-mediated autoimmune disease of the central nervous system whose pathophysiology has been linked to imbalances in gut microbial communities.
resultsIn the present study, we investigated, for the first time, qualitative and quantitative changes in the faecal bacterial composition of human volunteers with remitting multiple sclerosis (RMS) prior to and following experimental infection with the human hookworm, Necator americanus (N+), and following anthelmintic treatment, and compared the findings with data obtained from a cohort of RMS patients subjected to placebo treatment (PBO). Bacterial 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing data revealed significantly decreased alpha diversity in the faecal microbiota of PBO compared to N+ subjects over the course of the trial; additionally, we observed significant differences in the abundances of several bacterial taxa with putative immune-modulatory functions between study cohorts. Parabacteroides were significantly expanded in the faecal microbiota of N+ individuals for which no clinical and/or radiological relapses were recorded at the end of the trial.
conclusionsOverall, our data lend support to the hypothesis of a contributory role of parasite-associated alterations in gut microbial composition to the immune-modulatory properties of hookworm parasites.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.