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)
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 22 2019, @07:18AM (3 children)
Fecal transplants can cure autism.
(Score: 2) by Kawumpa on Tuesday January 22 2019, @11:03AM
"Alleviated symptoms" is not quite the same as "healing".
(Score: 2) by driverless on Tuesday January 22 2019, @01:27PM
Naah, that's just a pile of shit.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday January 22 2019, @07:06PM
So we can have vaccines back so long as we shove some poop up the pooper?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 22 2019, @07:20AM (1 child)
If you have a batch of cpus that average 3.5 GHz there will always be a few that work at 5 GHz. You can bin those into a more expensive product:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_binning [wikipedia.org]
Same thing with these fecal samples.. in every study a few will be from the upper tail of the distribution.
Also, they use the bs "animal based vs plant based diet" categories that actually means "lots of fast food vs little to no fast food".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 22 2019, @07:34AM
Also, what in the world? In the study they cite for this they only allowed coffee for the animal diet?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=24336217 [nih.gov]
(Score: 2) by Dr Spin on Tuesday January 22 2019, @08:01AM
If you shoot enough arrows in the air, one of them is bound to hit something!
Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!
(Score: 4, Funny) by c0lo on Tuesday January 22 2019, @08:21AM (5 children)
Actually, no, scratch that.
The correct question is 'who gives a super-shit, and consistently so?'
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Funny) by choose another one on Tuesday January 22 2019, @08:49AM (3 children)
Shit? Everybody has shit, question is "who has the good shit"...
(Score: 5, Funny) by pipedwho on Tuesday January 22 2019, @09:55AM (2 children)
Everyone takes a shit, but no one ever gives a shit. This is why there is a such an imbalance of shit in the world.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday January 22 2019, @11:12AM (1 child)
I would strongly disagree with your opinion. But then again, it just happen I do give exactly a shit about it. (grin)
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by pipedwho on Wednesday January 23 2019, @01:29AM
You're right, I probably should have written 'hardly anyone gives a shit' instead of 'no one...'.
Then I started thinking about how I was taking shit about my post. And thought, phew, imbalance restored! However, if one is taking shit, then by implication someone was giving them shit. So it is always self-cancelling and therefore was going to do jack shit to help with your defiant giving a singular non-plural shit.
But, not to worry! I had a dodgy vindaloo last night... :-)
(Score: 2) by The Archon V2.0 on Tuesday January 22 2019, @04:37PM
"The correct question is 'who gives a super-shit, and consistently so?'"
And I thought Heavy Flo had the worst superpower.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 22 2019, @10:31AM (1 child)
Did anyone else misread the headline?
(Score: 2) by Rich26189 on Tuesday January 22 2019, @04:16PM
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.
(Score: 3, Funny) by shortscreen on Tuesday January 22 2019, @11:08AM (3 children)
How long before everyone starts sending stool samples in the mail to get their microbiome analyzed? I'd start this service myself except I lost my microscope. And I already get too much crap in the mail that needs to be disposed of.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 22 2019, @12:49PM
I would like to know if mine is worth money, it could be a new career opportunity ....
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 22 2019, @01:22PM
It's already done.
https://labtestsonline.org/tests/stool-culture [labtestsonline.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 24 2019, @09:29AM
It's been around for a while as FOBT kits.
https://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/services/medicare/national-bowel-cancer-screening-register [humanservices.gov.au]
(Score: 2) by ledow on Tuesday January 22 2019, @01:20PM (3 children)
I suspect that I'd be a rather good candidate, biologically. I have a stupendous immune system that survives all kinds of illnesses that lay other people up for literally weeks. And even if I do get whatever they are spreading, the symptoms are much reduced, and the recovery time ridiculously short compared to them.
I work in schools, which is a great biological breeding ground for everything - worse than licking everything in a biological lab, and as such if I am ever ill I'm required to have time off to prevent the spread. I haven't had a day off sick in 5 years, and the one day I was sick it was the holidays anyway (and everyone else on the staff spent the whole of Christmas laid up and in agony, and I had a dicky tummy for a day and threw up once - and even that was a year ago).
But you'd have to pay me quite a bit to sit there collecting my excreta, or restricting my diet to purify that excreta, or actually having someone take that sample from me.
I quite believe that this works though. This is the point of the appendix, supposedly. Store bacteria to reseed the gut if an illness flushes it out, so you can get well quicker and start digesting food properly again. The question is really why these people get those kinds of fecal bacteria in the first place, and sustain them. That can only mainly come from their diet, no? I've always eaten ANYTHING I like and never calorie-counted in my life, and so my gut has grown to take on anything that gets to it, while also processing it so heavily that little remains to just linger in me (I'm nearly 40 and still skinny). It would be interesting to see what kind of lifetime diet, and exposure to dirt and muck, those recipients had.
I would suspect - without evidence admittedly - that they were either "too clean" in everything they do (wiping down every surface with anti-bacterial stuff, washing all their food, never eating something past expiry, etc.) or that they trained their gut to eat absorb everything they can from the food they eat because they are starving themselves to stay "healthy".
I would also suspect that the fecal donors were the opposite - healthy exposure to all kinds of outside influences, eat whenever hungry and throw high-sugar diets, etc. at themselves.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 22 2019, @01:22PM
So, you're full of shit?
(Score: 2) by bobthecimmerian on Tuesday January 22 2019, @03:22PM
While that's an interesting hypothesis, my extended family has terrible digestion health and weak immune systems and we grew up eating crap (okay, that's the wrong word to use in this discussion) - sausage, hot dogs, cookies, donuts, soda, pasta, etc... as well as potatoes, fruits and veggies, and such. Most of the family is fat.
So I would think there is more to it. But it's a complex topic. For example, we were all highly prone to ear infections as kids so we got a lot of antibiotics. Was that the problem? Did they wipe out too much of the useful bacteria?
I eat better now but I'm still a fat bastard.
(Score: 1) by Goghit on Thursday January 24 2019, @05:55AM
I'd like to know if they have a dog. A UofC gut fauna researcher remarked they could match your dog's and your gut fauna DNA. Disgusting, but dogs are definitely an antidote to the "too clean" lifestyle. Maybe part of the reason kids growing up with a dog are less likely to have allergies?
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Tuesday January 22 2019, @06:48PM
I have a germophobic family member whose efforts are ludicrously inconsistent. Constantly on everyone's case about washing hands, carries hand sanitizer around, and such like. And suffers from allergies. If the Hygiene Hypothesis is correct, it's actually unhealthy to eradicate germs. Fortunately for our health, the family member is a real clutterbug who can't be bothered to at least gather up dirty dishes and transport them to the sink, no. Leaves dirty dishes in the bed, in the car, on the floor, wherever.
This finding about feces is yet another piece of evidence that shows we're better off with germs, but only in their proper places, rather than no germs at all. It makes sense. We didn't evolve in a sterile environment.
(Score: 2) by Kalas on Tuesday January 22 2019, @07:22PM
Oh damn I owe a ton of people apologies. I didn't know they were complimenting me when they said I was full of shit!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 23 2019, @09:48AM (1 child)
Is a fecal transplant the most disgusting medical procedure?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 23 2019, @06:28PM
No.
(Score: 2) by archfeld on Thursday January 24 2019, @06:00PM
I am not going to take anymore shit from you. Unless yours is super shit I guess then it will be OK.
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge