Authors

Discussion

Several studies have shown that infection with helminths may affect the development of cancer.  Some species like Opisthorchis viverrini or Schistosoma haematobium can promote the development or even be the causative agent of cancer. On the other hand, infections with other species, such as Trichinella spiralis, can reduce tumors and potentially have a protecting effect. Mesocestoides corti and Taenia crassiceps are tapeworms, larvae of which are characterized by their ability to reproduce asexually. Our work investigates the effect of infection by M. corti and T. crassiceps in BALB/c, C57BL/6J, and ICR mice on the growth and metastasis of B16F10 melanoma tumors. Although an increase in metastatic activities was observed after intravenous administration of melanoma cells to M. corti-infected mice, both tapeworms showed a strong suppressive effect on the size and number of tumors and metastases formed when the cells were administered intraperitoneally. In some cases, it led to the complete elimination of tumor cells. In vitro cultivation of B16F10 cells in the presence of larval excretory-secretory products led to a decrease in their viability. Our work confirmed the anti-tumor effect of T. crassiceps infection in mice and introduced M. corti as a new helminth species capable of influencing cancer.