Polish research: parasites can help treat autoimmune and inflammatory diseases

Parasitic proteins with therapeutic potential that can change the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, such as Crohn's disease or MS – have been identified by Dr. Katarzyna Donskow-Łysoniewska from Lazarski University.

The team of dr hab. Katarzyna Donskow-Łysoniewska from the Department of Experimental Immunotherapy at Lazarski University has been studying proteins produced by parasites - intestinal roundworms - for over a decade. These proteins are called mimics.

They imitate human proteins and their action is to inhibit excessive immune system reactions. They do not exhibit toxicity. "Mimicry is a natural effect of evolution. For millions of years, parasites had to learn to survive in the host's body, avoiding attack and burdening its immune system. To this end, they synthesize proteins that imitate natural proteins of the human body, thanks to which they prevent inflammation," says Dr. Donskow-Łysoniewska, quoted in a press release sent to PAP.

Inflammatory diseases, including autoimmune diseases resulting from excessive and abnormal activity of the immune system, affect more than 500 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. These include diseases such as Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis (MS), and psoriasis.

One of the priorities of Dr. Donskow-Łysoniewska's team is the development of therapy for Crohn's disease - an inflammatory bowel disease that affects millions of people. Based on data from 2023 and 2024, it appears that in Poland alone, around 60,000 people suffer from nonspecific inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), of which 15-20,000 patients struggle with Crohn's disease.

It most often affects young people - about 70% of patients are under 35 years old. The disease was first described in 1904 by Polish physician Antoni Leśniowski. Currently, there is no therapy that can completely cure it. Previous methods only alleviate symptoms, but are associated with side effects, such as weakening the effectiveness of the immune system and problems with concentration.

"Our first mimic, which we tested on the Crohn's disease model, showed very promising results. The second one, on the other hand, has strong immunomodulatory properties that can be used in the treatment of diseases such as multiple sclerosis and psoriasis. These are diseases that significantly reduce the quality of life of patients and require long-term treatment," the researcher explained.

In her opinion, the possibility of offering targeted therapy that does not cause side effects and is safe for long-term use would be a huge breakthrough in medicine. Global Data reports indicate that psoriasis affects 2-3% of the world's population, and in 2019 alone, 42.3 million new cases of the disease were diagnosed. In turn, a total of about 2.9 million people worldwide live with multiple sclerosis (data from MS International Federation).

Dr. Katarzyna Donskow-Łysoniewska plans to obtain financial resources that will enable her team to continue work on mimics and conduct preclinical and clinical studies, which may result in introducing new therapies to the market. The researcher is also considering cooperation with larger entities from the pharmaceutical industry. (PAP)

Science in Poland

jjj/ zan/

The PAP Foundation permits free reprinting of articles from the Nauka w Polsce Service, provided that you inform us by e-mail once a month about the use of the service and provide the source of the article. In portals and internet services, please include the linked address: Source: naukawpolsce.pl, and in journals the annotation: Source: Nauka w Polsce Service - naukawpolsce.pl. The above permission does not apply to: information from the "World" category and any photographs and video materials.