Previous animal and in-vitro studies have shown that IGF-1 could induce the secretion of interleukin (IL)-10 from immune cells35,36 However, the observed lower free IGF-1 level in our current study was not in line with the increase of IL-10 level usually observed during helminth infections due to activation of TH2 and Treg cells. Here, IGF1 is linked to helminthiasis.