Fecal Microbiota Transplantation.

• Position: MEDICINE & HEALTH

Autologous fecal microbiota transplantation (auto-FMT) is a safe and effective way to help replenish beneficial gut bacteria in cancer patients who require intense antibiotics during allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center have shown.

In their study, patients who underwent the procedure randomly were assigned into two groups: one group received standard care and the other received auto-FMT. The researchers found that auto-FMT resulted in the recovery of beneficial gut bacteria to near baseline levels within days, thus restoring patients' digestive, immune, and other essential functions. With standard care, beneficial bacteria typically take many weeks to recover from antibiotic treatment, leaving patients at risk of other infectious diseases, including Clostridium difficile (inflamed colon).

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, provided funding for a portion of the project. The study report appears in Science Translational Medicine.

'This important study suggests that clinical intervention using auto-FMT can safely reverse the disruptive effects of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment," says Anthony S. Fauci, NIAID director. "If validated in larger studies, this approach may prove to be a relatively simple way to quickly restore a person's healthy microbiome following intensive antimicrobial therapy."

Allogenic hematopoietic cell transplantation involves a donor--often, but not exclusively, a family member--who gives the recipient stem cells that reestablish bone marrow production of blood cells and immune function to combat cancer...