Seminar: Megan Teh
September 18, 2026
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
LSC 3 (Life Sciences Institute- 2350 Health Sciences Mall)
Metabolic adaptation during helminth infection
Host metabolic remodelling is a common response to infection by diverse pathogens. Metabolic changes often support specific pathogen resistance, or disease tolerance mechanisms, that limit pathology. Notably, helminths cause significant morbidities including growth stunting and cognitive impairment but are also associated with a reduced risk of metabolic disease. However, how helminth infection rewires host metabolism and what this means for the anti-helminthic immune response has largely been neglected. We hypothesize that helminth infection promotes a distinct metabolic program which in turn modifies the anti-helminthic response and long-term metabolic health. To study this, we use the model helminth, Heligmosomoides polygyrus, which induces a classic type 2 immune response, but remains chronic due to immunosuppressive T-regulatory cells. Helminth infection results in significant systemic metabolic changes including impaired dietary lipid absorption, suppressed plasma triglycerides and adipose loss likely mediated via lipolysis. Notably, adipose loss is mediated via an IL-6 and immune cell dependent mechanism which also shows sex specific differences. Further work plans to identify how helminth induced metabolic changes modify host responses to infection, for instance via disease tolerance or pathogen resistance mechanisms. This work aims to identify targets which can be leveraged to limit helminth associated morbidities or tackle metabolic disease.