Fecal therapy in oncology
Stool transplantation "improves the health" of intestinal bacteria in cancer patients
Evgenia Efimova, Vesti
Autologous fecal microbiota transplantation (TFM) can effectively restore a patient's gut microbiota after antibiotic treatment. This was stated by scientists based on the results of a recent clinical study (Y. Taur et al., Microbiota-remediation after antibiotic-induced loss of bacterial bacterial, Science Translational Medicine).
Let's immediately explain two terms: microbiota refers to a set of bacteria and other microorganisms living in the human body; autologous transplantation involves the restoration of the human microbiota using its own fecal sample.
Every year scientists find more and more evidence that the unique microbiota of the human gut is important for maintaining health. Meanwhile, some medical procedures can harm her.
As part of a recent work, a team of researchers studied a group of cancer patients. To be more precise, the specialists studied the microbiota of patients who underwent allogeneic (from a donor) hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Similar treatment is prescribed to people with certain types of blood or bone marrow cancer.
One of the stages of such therapy involves the introduction of strong antibiotics, and often such a measure can harm the patient's intestinal microbiota.
The human microbiota can recover for weeks (and even months), and during this time the human body becomes more susceptible to infectious diseases.
Specialists examined 25 patients undergoing treatment with hematopoietic bone marrow stem cells. Fecal samples were taken from 14 people before taking antibiotics (for fecal transplantation after treatment). The remaining 11 people served as a control group undergoing a standard course of therapy.
After the use of antibiotics, the FMT group received a treated sample. Within a few days, the subjects demonstrated the recovery of beneficial intestinal bacteria: they had a rapid "healing" of the unique microbiota to the condition that was observed before the start of treatment.
In the control group, significant delays in improving the microbiota were noted.
It turned out that fecal transplantation can be a quick and safe way to restore the disturbed microbiota within a few days after treatment.
"This important study demonstrates that clinical intervention using auto-FMT can safely reverse the devastating effects of broad–spectrum antibiotics," says Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute for the Study of Allergic and Infectious Diseases, USA.
According to Fauci, if the results of the study are confirmed in larger studies, this approach may prove to be a simple way to quickly restore a healthy human microbiota after intensive antimicrobial therapy.
The main focus of the work was on the safety and efficiency of the process. At the same time, there is no data at the current stage, for example, on whether the restoration of the microbiota really reduces the frequency of infections. Meanwhile, numerous other papers suggest that this could be an important factor in future cancer treatment.
It is necessary to carry out additional work to understand the consequences of possible adaptation of the human microbiota to other, alien bacteria that could increase the effectiveness of this treatment.
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