Searching for the one(s): Using Probiotics as Anthelmintic Treatments

SARACINO, MARIA PRISCILA; VILA, CECILIA CELESTE; BALDI, PABLO CÉSAR; GONZÁLEZ MAGLIO, DANIEL HORACIO

Frontiers in Pharmacology

Frontiers Media

Año: 2021 vol. 12

Helminths are a major health concern as over one billion people are infected worldwideand, despite the multiple efforts made, there is still no effective human vaccine againstthem. The most important drugs used nowadays to control helminth infections belong tothe benzimidazoles, imidazothiazoles (levamisole) and macrocyclic lactones (avermectinsand milbemycins) families. However, in the last 20 years, many publications have revealedincreasing anthelmintic resistance in livestock which is both an economical and a potentialhealth problem, even though very few have reported similar findings in human populations.To deal with this worrying limitation of anthelmintic drugs, alternative treatments based onplant extracts or probiotics have been developed. Probiotics are defined by the Food andAgriculture Organization as live microorganisms, which, when consumed in adequateamounts, confer a health benefit to the host. It has been proven that probiotic microbeshave the ability to exert an immunomodulatory effect both at the mucosa and the systemiclevel. The immune response against gastrointestinal helminths is characterized as a type 2response, with high IgE levels, increased numbers and/or activity of Th2 cells, type 2 innatelymphoid cells, eosinophils, basophils, mast cells, and alternatively activatedmacrophages. The oral administration of probiotics may contribute to controllinggastrointestinal helminth infections since it has been demonstrated that thesemicroorganisms stimulate dendritic cells to elicit a type 2 or regulatory immuneresponse, among other effects on the host immune system. Here we review thecurrent knowledge about the use of probiotic bacteria as anthelmintic therapy or as acomplement to traditional anthelmintic treatments. Considering all research papersreviewed, we may conclude that the effect generated by probiotics on helminthinfection depends not only on the parasite species, their stage and localization butalso on the administration scheme.