Researchers say a small study offers the first proof that therapeutic donor microbes remain for months or years in patients who've undergone faecal microbiota transplantation.
An Infectious Disease Advisor report says that the researchers developed a new method utilising unique single nucleotide variants to identify microbes in paired faecal samples from an individual taken at different times. The study included seven patients.
In 2 of the patients, some donor microbe strains persisted as long as 2 years after a transplant. In 5 others, donor strains persisted for 3 to 6 months, according to the University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers.
"The demonstration that certain transplanted microbes can persist for up to 2 years demonstrates the potential of using faecal microbiota transplantation for long-term changes in the composition of the gastrointestinal tract microbe communities," the authors write, adding that the results offer insights "that are essential for development of new approaches to improve health via manipulation of this complex microbial community."
Abstract
Fecal microbiota transplantation has been shown to be an effective treatment for patients with recurrent C. difficile colitis. Although fecal microbiota transplantation helps to re-establish a normal gut function in patients, the extent of the repopulation of the recipient microbial community varies. To further understand this variation, it is important to determine the fate of donor microbes in the patients following fecal microbiota transplantation. We have developed a new method that utilizes the unique single nucleotide variants of gut microbes to accurately identify microbes in paired fecal samples from the same individual taken at different times. Using this method, we identified transplant donor microbes in seven recipients 3–6 months after fecal microbiota transplantation; in two of these fecal microbiota transplantation, we were able to identify donor microbes that persist in recipients up to 2 years post-fecal microbiota transplantation. Our study provides new insights into the dynamics of the reconstitution of the gastrointestinal microbe community structure following fecal microbiota transplantation.
Authors
Ranjit Kumar, Nengjun Yi, Degui Zhi, Peter Eipers, Kelly T Goldsmith, Paula Dixon, David K Crossman, Michael R Crowley, Elliot J Lefkowitz, J Martin Rodriguez, Casey D Morrow
[link url="http://www.infectiousdiseaseadvisor.com/clostridium-difficile/donor-microbes-persist-after-fecal-transplant/article/669341/"]Infectious Disease Advisor material[/link]
[link url="http://www.nature.com/articles/s41522-017-0020-7"]NPJ Biofilms and Microbiomes abstract[/link]