Helminths make themselves at home.

Drurey et al. (2021. J. Exp. Med.https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.20211140) show that excretory/secretory products from the parasitic helminth Heligmosomoides polygyrus suppress the host-protective small intestinal epithelial response. These findings establish that helminths directly modulate the tissue in which they live, shining new light on the host-parasite interaction.