Diet-microbiota crosstalk and immunity to helminth infection.

Helminths are large multicellular parasites responsible for widespread chronic disease in humans and animals. Intestinal helminths live in close proximity with the host gut microbiota and mucosal immune network, resulting in reciprocal interactions that closely influence the course of infections. Diet composition may strongly regulate gut microbiota composition and intestinal immune function and therefore may play a key role in modulating anti-helminth immune responses. Characterizing the multitude of interactions that exist between different dietary components (e.g. dietary fibers), immune cells, and the microbiota, may shed new light on regulation of helminth-specific immunity. This review focuses on our current knowledge of how metabolism of dietary components shapes immune response during helminth infection, and how we may potentially harness this information to design new therapeutics to manage parasitic infections and associated diseases. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.