As we know, things often do not move fast in the world of medical research, at least when it comes to autism.
Back in 2014 I wrote some posts about a novel immuno-modulatory therapy, based on TSO, a harmless gut parasite, developed for autism by one parent. He then shared it with Eric Hollander at The Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Then a small biotech company called Coronado, tried to develop TSO to treat a variety of inflammatory conditions, including autism.
A pilot trial in autism was funded by the Simons Foundation and Coronado.
Coronado did not achieve the desired results in their ulcerative colitis TSO trials, so their share price took a dive and they later changed their name to Fortress Biotech. It looks like they have given up on TSO.
The autism Dad, Stewart Johnson, who originally came up with the idea has not updated his TSO website since 2011.
I do wonder if he continues to give TSO to his son. The good thing is that he fully documented his son's treatment, shared it with a leading autism researcher and has left the information in the public domain.
The research data from the pilot trial has finally been published.
OBJECTIVES:
Inflammatory mechanisms are implicated in the etiology of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and use of the immunomodulator Trichuris Suis Ova (TSO) is a novel treatment approach. This pilot study determined the effect sizes for TSO vs. placebo on repetitive behaviors, irritability and global functioning in adults with ASD.
METHODS:
A 28-week double-blind, randomized two-period crossover study of TSO vs. placebo in 10 ASD adults, ages 17 to 35, was completed, with a 4-week washout between each 12-week period at Montefiore Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Subjects with ASD, history of seasonal, medication or food allergies, Y-BOCS ≥ 6 and IQ ≥70 received 2500 TSO ova or matching placebo every two weeks of each 12-week period.
RESULTS:
Large effect sizes for improvement in repetitive behaviors (d = 1.0), restricted interests (d = 0.82), rigidity (d = 0.79), and irritability (d = 0.78) were observed after 12 weeks of treatment. No changes were observed in the social-communication domain. Differences between treatment groups did not reach statistical significance. TSO had only minimal, non-serious side effects.
CONCLUSIONS:
This proof-of-concept study demonstrates the feasibility of TSO for the treatment of ASD, including a favorable safety profile, and moderate to large effect sizes for reducing repetitive behaviors and irritability.
some excerpts:-
some excerpts:-
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by marked deficits in two core symptom domains: social-communication, and repetitive behaviors and restricted interests. Current literature supports a link between neuroinflammation, imbalanced immune responses, and ASD. Characteristic cytokine profiles of Th2 anti-inflammatory and Th1 proinflammatory cytokine responses have been reported in ASD. Additionally, some individuals with ASD demonstrate an amelioration of symptoms during fever episodes. This suggests a role for immune-inflammatory factors, as fever is a cardinal symptom of infectious and inflammatory processes, and induces the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines which are part of an autoregulatory loop. Early in neurodevelopment, microglia play a protective role in promoting neurogenesis, suppressing inflammation and eliminating inhibitory synapses. Pro-inflammatory cytokines are known to activate microglia, which in turn secretes cytokines that participate in the inflammation process. There is evidence for neuroglial activation and neuroinflammation in the cerebral cortex, cerebellum and white matter of individuals with ASD, which relates to an increase of glial-derived cytokines. Additionally, viral infection during pregnancy correlates with increased frequency of ASD in offspring. This is modeled in rodents subjected to maternal immune activation (MIA), which results in autism-like behavioral abnormalities in their offspring.
Both T helper 17 (TH17) cells and the effector cytokine interleukin-17a (IL-17a), are present in mothers who have MIA-induced behavioral abnormalities in their offspring. In this animal model of MIA, the abnormal autistic-like behavior in offspring is prevented by maternal treatment with an anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-6 antibody. Additionally, recent studies suggest that therapeutic targeting of TH17 cells in susceptible pregnant mothers may reduce the likelihood of bearing children with inflammation-induced ASD-like phenotypes. In sum, due to the inflammatory mechanisms implicated in the development and symptomatology of ASD, immunomodulatory interventions should be explored as an experimental therapeutics’ pathway.
The study of helminth worms, such as Trichuris Suis Ova (TSO), for the treatment of autoimmune disorders emerged from the “hygiene hypothesis”. This hypothesis states that stimulation of the immune system by infectious agents, such as microbes that stimulate normal immune responses, is protective against the development of inflammatory diseases, and that due to a rise in hygiene in urban settings there are less protective microbes in humans. This subsequently leads to an increase in autoimmune inflammatory disorders, including multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, asthma, allergic rhinitis and possibly ASD. The interaction of the developing immune system with microorganisms, including helminths, may be an important component of normal immune system maturation. TSO has been studied in clinical trials of other immune-inflammatory disorders such as allergies, inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, and multiple sclerosis with mixed results. This is the first such study in ASD or any neurodevelopmental disorder.
The porcine whipworm TSO is proposed to work through multiple mechanisms, including interference with antigen presentation, cell proliferation and activation, antibody production, and modulation of dendritic cells. In addition to the induction of regulatory cells, TSO may modify the cytokine profiles released by the local inflammatory cells. Helminths, including TSO, are well known to induce tolerance in their hosts via differential modulation of increased anti-inflammatory Th2 cytokine (IL-4, IL-5, IL-10, IL-13) and decreased pro-inflammatory Th1 and Th17 cytokine (IL-1, IL-12, IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-6) responses. Th2 cell induction leads to strong IgE, mast cell and eosinophil response, while cytokines IL-4 and IL-13 trigger intestinal mucous secretion, enhance smooth muscle contractibility, and stimulate fluid secretion in the intestinal lumen. Additional studies have shown that a similar exposure to TSO results in the augmentation of the anti-inflammatory Th2 response, a dampening of the toll-like receptor (TLR)-induced proinflammatory Th1 and Th17 responses, and an increased presence of myeloid and plasmacytoid dendritic cells, which are antigen producing cells that stimulate T-cells.
Our subjects were part of an ASD subgroup, and were high functioning adults, as defined by an IQ greater than 70, with a history of seasonal, medication, or food allergies, and/or a family history of autoimmune illness. Thus, results may not be generalizable to a larger more heterogeneous ASD population.
This study suggests that immune-modulating agents could be a useful therapeutic approach to address certain domains in individuals with ASD. Those that will benefit the most are likely to have marked restricted and repetitive behaviors and irritability. Future studies are needed to replicate these preliminary findings in larger samples, and effect sizes support future trials with 25 subjects per group in a parallel design study. Alternatively, they could be completed in a younger population, stratified for higher baseline severity, and using other immunomodulatory agents.
Conclusions
This trial provided key data necessary for planning further definitive studies of TSO in the ASD population. TSO was observed to improve symptoms in the restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior domain of ASD. These symptoms map onto the positive valence systems and cognitive systems of the NIMH Research Domain Criteria (RDoc) matrix, which provides an integrative research framework for the study of mental disorders. Specifically, the Approach Motivation, Habit and Cognitive Control constructs of the matrix are targeted by TSO. Future trials should continue to integrate the RDoc framework, and be conducted in more homogeneous syndromal forms of ASD with marked immune and microglial abnormalities.
Acknowledgements:
This work was supported by the Simons Foundation under Grant number 206808, and by Coronado Biosciences. Coronado Biosciences also provided both TSO and the matching placebo. This data was presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research (2015, Poster 20516), and the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Conference (2013, Panel and Poster T177).
My posts related to parasites and autism are below. The role of the ion channel Kv1.3 is interesting.
Personalized Medicine
The problem with personalized medicine, like Stewart Johnson and the TSO treatment for his son, is that it may be just too personalized to apply to most other people. As a result, investing money in the many possible autism treatments is a highly risky business. Many potential autism treatments like, Arbaclofen, are stumbled upon by accident or in a n=1 trial.
Our reader Knut Wittkowski has got backing for his mefenamic acid-based therapy to halt the progress of autism to severe and non-verbal.
He made a deal with Q BioMed and the drug is now called QBM-001. The idea was to modify the already existing painkiller Ponstan (which is OTC in many countries) so that it had reduced side effects and most importantly can be patented.
The treatment window during which the child is sensitive to the effects of the drug is proposed to be 12-24 months.
Q BioMed want to submit an orphan drug application in 2019. The problem with that is that autism is now very common and it is hard to see how an autism drug for children up to 2 years of age would qualify. You cannot really tell at 12 months if someone is going to have mild or severe autism, so you would have to give it to everyone with a diagnosis.
Orphan drugs are for rare conditions and have stronger/longer patent protection to allow drug developers to get their money back.
Nonetheless, good luck to Knut.
The original post on Ponstan and Knut’s work.
Ponstan is widely available outside of the US. It is particularly good at lowering temperature in children during fevers.
Sensitive periods and treatment windows are the topics of a forthcoming post. We did earlier look at critical periods, which are key times during the development of the brain. It is important to know when these are, because you need to have your therapy in place at these times. Sensitive periods are the time periods when a therapy can be effective. Correcting some defects is only possible within these critical windows and this needs to be understood by those planning clinical trials.
Knut is a rare researcher who has fully grasped this.
