The invention provides compositions and methods for treating inflammatory diseases, such as cardiac or hepatic inflammatory diseases, involving the use of parasite-derived neurotrophic factor (PDNF), or fragment of PDNF. The invention also provides compositions featuring PDNF, or a fragment thereof, and methods for using such compositions for the proliferation and/or mobilization of a stem cell (e.g., cardiac stem cell) or progenitor cell (e.g., hepatic progenitor cell). In one aspect, the invention provides a method of decreasing inflammation in a nonneuronal tissue of a subject. In another aspect, the invention provides a method of decreasing inflammation in a cardiac, liver, pancreas, or gastrointestinal tissue of a subject. In still another aspect, the invention provides a method of increasing expression of an anti-inflammatory factor in a non-neuronal cell or tissue
