Table 1. Summary of tapeworm products suppressing cancer development.
| Tapeworm | Developmental stage/Antigen | Assay | Effect | Cancer type (Abbreviations of cancer cell lines) | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E. granulosus | Living larvae | In vitro | Cell lysis, proliferation inhibition | WEHI-164 fibrosarcoma, BHK fibroblasts | Darani et al. (2012) |
| Living larvae | Rats | Reduced tumor growth | DMBA-induced breast cancer | Altun et al. (2015) | |
| Cystic fluid | Mice | Reduced tumor growth, NK cell activation | B16F10 melanoma, CT27 colon carcinoma, LL/2 lung cancer | Darani et al. (2016), Berriel et al. (2021) | |
| 78 kDa fraction of cystic fluid | In vitro | Increased apoptosis | 4T1 breast cancer | Daneshpour et al. (2019) | |
| 78 kDa fraction of cystic fluid | Mice | Reduced tumor growth | B16F10 melanoma | Rad et al. (2018) | |
| miRNA-365 cystic fluid component | In vitro | Increased apoptosis | A375 melanoma | Mohammadi et al. (2021) | |
| EgKI-1 | Mice | Inhibited neutrophil chemotaxis | MDA-MB-231 breast cancer | Ranasinghe et al. (2018) | |
| EgKI-1 | In vitro | Inhibited proliferation and migration | MDA-MB-231, HeLa cell line | Ranasinghe et al. (2018) | |
| EgKI-4 (Kunitz4) | In vitro | Increased apoptosis, inhibited proliferation | HT29 colorectal adenocarcinoma, HepG2 liver cancer | Rashno et al. (2023) | |
| Egmuc | Mice | Increased cytotoxic effect of splenocytes | Panc02 pancreatic cancer | Noya et al. (2013) | |
| T. crassiceps | Living larvae/ESP | Mice | Reduced tumor growth, Th2 polarization, reduction of b-catenin and CXCR2 expression | Colitis-associated carcinoma | León-Cabrera et al. (2014), Callejas et al. (2019) |
| GK-1 | Mice | Reduced tumor growth and metastases, increased numbers of cytotoxic CD8+ T lymphocytes | 4T1 breast cancer, B16F10 melanoma | Torres-García et al. (2017), Rodríguez-Rodríguez et al. (2020) | |
| H. nana | Living mature tapeworms | Mice | Reduced tumor growth, increased numbers of eosinophils and neutrophils | 7,12 dimethylbenz-anthracene-induced skin cancer | Ramos-Martínez et al. (2019) |
| M. corti | Living larvae | Mice/in vitro | Activated eosinophil-induced apoptosis | A20 lymphoma | Costain et al. (2001) |
| T. solium | Calreticulin | In vitro | Reduced ability to form colonies, reduced viability | MCF7, SKOV3 adenocarcinoma | Schcolnik-Cabrera et al. (2020) |
Note:
ESP, excretory-secretory products; GK-1, peptide isolated from T. crassiceps larvae; EgKI-1, Kunitz-type protease inhibitor produced by E. granulosus; EgKI-4 (Kunitz4), Kunitz-type protease inhibitor produced by E. granulosus; Egmuc, mucin-like peptide isolated from E. granulosus larvae.