Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by chromas on Tuesday January 22 2019, @07:07AM   Printer-friendly
from the : dept.

Fecal transplants have become routine treatment for nasty recurrent diarrheal infections, but trials for other conditions have hit a bum note. Now, scientists have re-examined the evidence.

Time and again, they found one donor whose stool was substantially more likely to lead to clinical improvement than others in the same trial. These 'super-donors' can provide the necessary bacteria to restore gut chemicals that are lacking in illnesses like IBD and diabetes, according to a new review published in Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology. With Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis, cancers, asthma, allergies and heart disease all associated with changes to gut bacteria as well, understanding what makes a fecal super donor could make poop the new panacea.

[...] "We see transplants from super-donors achieve clinical remission rates of perhaps double the remaining average. Our hope is that if we can discover how this happens, then we can improve the success of fecal transplantation and even trial it for new microbiome-associated conditions like Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis and asthma."

[...] "It is well-known that responders typically exhibit a higher microbial diversity than non-responders. In line with these observations, a larger number of species in the donor stool has been shown to be one of the most significant factors influencing fecal transplantation outcome," O'Sullivan explains.

In particular, super donor stool tends to have high levels of specific 'keystone species'. These are bacteria which produce chemicals whose lack in the host gut contributes to disease.

"In inflammatory bowel disease and diabetes for example, keystone species that are associated with prolonged clinical remission produce butyrate -- a chemical with specialized functions in regulating the immune system and energy metabolism."

The balance of other bacteria present, and the interactions between them, seems to influence the retention of keystone species.

But digging deeper into stool samples, the researchers have discovered that it matters not only which bacteria are present, but what's present in and around the bacteria.

"For example, the success of fecal transplants has been associated in some studies with the transfer of viruses which infect other gut microbes. Some cases of recurrent diarrheal infection have even been cured with transplants of filtered stool, that has had all the live bacteria filtered out but still contains DNA, viruses and other debris.

"These viruses could affect the survival and metabolic function of transplanted bacteria and other microbes."

[...] "Supporting the transplanted microbiome through diet could also improve success. It has been shown that a rapid change in diet, such as a switch from an animal-based to an exclusively plant-based diet, can alter the composition of the gut microbiota within 24 hours."

-- submitted from IRC

 

The Super-Donor Phenomenon in Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2019.00002)


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by Rich26189 on Tuesday January 22 2019, @04:16PM

    by Rich26189 (1377) on Tuesday January 22 2019, @04:16PM (#790109)

    Yes, I first read it as "Facial transplant ... " and wondering how can someone give more than once, or maybe it was [some class of] people who's faces were desirable. Then I re-read the headline and the "From Dept" line.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2