Got Worms? Maybe You Need Some

None of us would volunteer to have a parasitic worm dropped into our gut, would we? Not normally? But Dave, stories like these are why I continue to be passionate about science. It’s just so cool!  

I know! We’re talking about the hookworm, rare in the U.S., but a leading cause of anemia and malnutrition in the world’s poverty-stricken areas. Except scientists may have found a use for this parasite. They’re studying whether the hookworm can deliver therapeutic drugs to the gut that normally wouldn’t survive passing through the stomach’s acid to arrive in the intestines.  Normally, the hookworm larvae enter its human host through bare feet, travel through the bloodstream into the lungs, and end up in the intestinal tract where they attach and feed on blood.   

In this study, scientists genetically modified hookworms to deliver drugs inside the gut of hamsters. The eggs were modified with the CRISPR genetic tool to make them manufacture an antibody that targets a deadly neurotoxin.  

CRISPR is like the “search and replace” tool on your word processor.  It inserted the antibody gene into the hookworm egg genome. The larvae were then placed in the hamster where they attached to the intestine.  

Blood tests showed the larvae made an effective antibody that could neutralize the deadly toxin. And once their job is done, antiparasitic drugs can kill the modified hookworms.  It’s a promising start to a unique concept – taming a pathogen to manufacture treatments in us. You gotta marvel at science!