by James Cook University

Extracellular vesicles from the worm Ascaris suum have demonstrated a significant reduction in inflammation in mice that had colitis, a common IBD. Credit: James Cook University

A four year-long research study has found that particles secreted by an intestinal worm may assist in treating inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), an ailment suffered by millions of people globally.

The paper found that extracellular vesicles (EVs, particles that cells release) from the worm Ascaris suum demonstrated a significant reduction in inflammation in mice that had colitis, a common IBD.

Dr. Farouq Sharifpour, DVM, Ph.D. from JCU's Australian Institute of Tropical Health & Medicine (AITHM) co-authored the paper published in Journal of Extracellular Vesicles and said the research lays the groundwork for novel therapeutic approaches to IBD.

"We collaborated with Professor Peter Nejsum's team at Aarhus University in Denmark on this research and they did several in vitro experiments that showed it actually reduced inflammation by targeting specific blood cells," Dr. Sharifpour said.

"They then sent us EV samples from Denmark and we tested those over three experiments in a year where we had induced colitis in around 130 mice and found that they had a lot of improvements.

"It was the outcome we somewhat expected, but it was still pleasing. In science you never know; some drugs or medicines can work well inside petri dishes, but they don't necessarily work well inside animals or humans.

"The team in Denmark got promising results in cell culture, but they didn't know how it would react inside the mouse body, and that's where we were able to come in."

Moving forward, Dr. Sharifpour hopes to continue collaboration with Prof Nejsum's team and delve deeper into the mechanisms behind these effects, while also investigating the synthetic production of EVs.

"I believe that the ultimate goal is to create semi-synthetic extracellular vesicles that can be used as new therapeutics for IBD and other chronic inflammatory conditions such as arthritis and type 2 diabetes," he said.

"And this is not like chemicals, this is not invasive, it's completely natural and if you can regulate it, you wouldn't expect to see any adverse effects. These kinds of therapeutics are coming from a natural source."

More information: Anne Borup et al, Helminth extracellular vesicles co‐opt host monocytes to drive T cell anergy, Journal of Extracellular Vesicles (2025). DOI: 10.1002/jev2.70027

Provided by James Cook University