SHIN Eun-Hee, professor of Medicine specializing in Parasitology, and her research team discovered that the injection of Toxoplasma Gondii, a typical parasite found in cells, had a cancer deterrence effect on mice as their immune response strengthened.

From this the ‘hygiene hypothesis’ which theorizes a correlation between the increase of allergic patients and the decrease of patients with parasite-related diseases gained weight, suggesting that parasites might become valuable sources of medication in the future.

- Published in Segye Ilbo