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ISSN: 2684-1630
ISSN: 2684-1630
Mostafa A. Abdel-Maksoud , Saleh Al-Quraishy
Therapeutic options for Autoimmune Diseases (ADS) are very limited with no real curable value. The etiology of this category of diseases is not clear however; environmental factors are well known to participate in the development of ADs. Infectious agents like malaria parasites have historically been positively linked with psychiatric and ADs. Jauregg J Wagner has noticed an obvious amelioration in the neurological abnormalities associated with general paralysis of the insane (GPI) when some of his patients have encounter malaria infection and subsequently the term malariotherapy has been introduced. Many years later, Greenwood has noted a lower prevalence of the autoimmune condition, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in West Nigerian population and concluded that this low incidence may be a result of immunological modulation resulting from recurrent exposure to Plasmodium sp. He could also report a suppressed spontaneous autoimmune activity in BWF1 lupus mice infected with Plasmodium berghei. Additionally, a lower prevalence of autoimmune allergic diseases has been observed in native populations in Northern Canada compared to other populations. These results augment the immunotherapeutic value of malaria infection in ADs. The current review will focus on this therapeutic value of malarial infection both in human and experimental animal models.