Parasite contains growth secretion that can enahance healing and help blood vessels to grow,
Scientists have conducted research on the Opisthorchis viverrini, a parasite that you can get from eating raw fish, can actually heal injuries and help strengthen blood vessels. The parasite that causes cancer could hold the key in wound healing and could also provide scientists valuable information needed to develop a cure against some forms of cancer.
The parasite alone is very deadly. Members from the Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine place the death toll at around 26.000 per year. Opisthorchis viverrini enters the blood stream when we consume unboiled fish and attaches itself to the bile duct, leading, in time, to an aggressive form of cancer known as cholangiocarcinoma.
Scientist have discovered that the parasite’ growth secretion can be used to trigger enhanced wound healing and blood vessel growth. But there is also a downside to this. Although the secretion can be used in therapy for severe wounds, the patient receiving this treatment will be more susceptible in developing cholangiocarcinoma.
Doctors pointed out that this could represented very good news for patients suffering from chronic illnesses such as diabetic ulcer. Doctor Michael Smout, from the same institute, declared that this can be a breakthrough in regenerative therapy. He added that there are a lot of patients suffering from inflammatory disease such as diabetes and its associated non-healing wounds, like diabetes arthritis. He also stressed out that diabetes becomes a major issues when associated with obesity.
Along with professor Alex Loukas, a researcher for the same Australian institute, they seem confident in their affirmation that the parasitic evolutionary process could very well hold the key to developing ailments for chronic inflammatory disease and even a cure for cancer. Another category of people that can reap the benefits of this new kind of therapy would be the elderly. The parasite’s secretion can be used to heal arthritis and other associated illness.
Researchers found out that this parasite can actually lie dormant in our body for many decades before waking up and going on a rampage. Its core intent is to keep the host healthy while he consumes liver cells.
The cure may be decades away from actually being a viable method of treatment, but the perspective is a sight to behold. To think that from a vile and repulsive being as this parasite you can extract something that could very well hold the key to cancer.
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