On: The Parasite Underground

[refurb]

As someone else mentioned, Coronado Biosciences conducted a large, double-blinded study using pig whipworms for ulcerative colitis.

There was no difference between the treatment and placebo arms.

[cpncrunch → refurb]

More info here:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4374592/

It looks like it was for Crohn's.

[Houshalter → refurb]

What's most interesting is that the placebo was remarkably effective. That seems hard to believe and maybe it is a fluke.

Anyway the article said the study hasn't been published so maybe there are more details.

[jvandonsel → Houshalter]

"That seems hard to believe and maybe it is a fluke"

Pun intended?

[cpncrunch → Houshalter]

No that is actually a pretty typical placebo response for diarrhea or bowel movements. See my other comment here for specific details.

[Houshalter → cpncrunch]

Well it's still the most interesting part to me. It's crazy that a medical condition as objective as diarrhea or stomach pain can be so heavily influenced by psychology.

[refurb → Houshalter]

Don't forget that's it's common for autoimmune diseases to wax and wane. Even if a patients get no therapy at all, the disease often gets better for a short period of time.

[cpncrunch → refurb]

Also, stress affects autoimmunity [1], so it's possible that the placebo effect modulated the autoimmune disease itself.

[1] http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1568997207...

[cpncrunch → Houshalter]

Yes it is fascinating. It's well established that the stress system modulates bowel motility (via crh) and absorption (via cortisol).