Trial reportInflammatory bowel diseases2024
Controlled Hookworm Infection for Medication-free Maintenance in Patients with Ulcerative Colitis: A Pilot, Double-blind, Randomized Control Trial.
Trial report in Inflammatory bowel diseases, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 8 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
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- The immune-modulatory potential of helminth-derived proteins in cellular models of inflammation: a systematic review with cross-study quantitative data analysis.Scientific reports · 2026Pooled it
- Transgenic hookworm secretes anti-tetrodotoxin human single chain antibody.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Advances in vaccine development through the controlled human infection models for hookworm and schistosomiasis.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2026Review
- Review
- Clinical challenges and technological breakthroughs in helminthic therapy for diabetes.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- A Small Intestinal Helminth Infection Alters Colonic Mucus and Shapes the Colonic Mucus Microbiome.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Helminth-derived biomolecules as potential therapeutics against ulcerative colitis.Immunotherapy · 2024Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
15 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundHuman hookworm has been proposed as a treatment for ulcerative colitis (UC). This pilot study assessed the feasibility of a full-scale randomized control trial examining hookworm to maintain clinical remission in patients with UC.
methodsTwenty patients with UC in disease remission (Simple Clinical Colitis Activity Index [SCCAI] ≤4 and fecal calprotectin (fCal) <100 ug/g) and only on 5-aminosalicylate received 30 hookworm larvae or placebo. Participants stopped 5-aminosalicylate after 12 weeks. Participants were monitored for up to 52 weeks and exited the study if they had a UC flare (SCCAI ≥5 and fCal ≥200 µg/g). The primary outcome was difference in rates of clinical remission at week 52. Differences were assessed for quality of life (QoL) and feasibility aspects including recruitment, safety, effectiveness of blinding, and viability of the hookworm infection.
resultsAt 52 weeks, 4 of 10 (40%) participants in the hookworm group and 5 of 10 (50%) participants in the placebo group had maintained clinical remission (odds ratio, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.11-3.92). Median time to flare in the hookworm group was 231 days (interquartile range [IQR], 98-365) and 259 days for placebo (IQR, 132-365). Blinding was quite successful in the placebo group (Bang's blinding index 0.22; 95% CI, -0.21 to 1) but less successful in the hookworm group (0.70; 95% CI, 0.37-1.0). Almost all participants in the hookworm group had detectable eggs in their faeces (90%; 95% CI, 0.60-0.98), and all participants in this group developed eosinophilia (peak eosinophilia 4.35 × 10^9/L; IQR, 2.80-6.68). Adverse events experienced were generally mild, and there was no significant difference in QoL.
conclusionsA full-scale randomized control trial examining hookworm therapy as a maintenance treatment in patients with UC appears feasible.
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