Advanced fecal therapy
A new method of fecal transplantation treats ulcerative colitis
Evgenia Efimova, Vesti
In recent years, many studies have appeared that have demonstrated the effectiveness of fecal microbiota transplantation (TFM) in the treatment of a particular disease. Recently, Australian scientists have proposed a new method of TFM and proved its effectiveness by testing it on patients with ulcerative colitis (Poo transplant effective treatment for chronic bowel condition).
Recall that fecal transplantation is not a new word in medicine. American surgeons first began experimenting with this method back in the 50s of the last century. Meanwhile, interest in TFM has grown in recent years, which can largely be explained by numerous discoveries of important roles and functions of the intestinal microbiota (a community of microorganisms in the human intestine).
It turned out that intestinal bacteria affect the development of cardiovascular diseases, provoke autoimmune diseases and even help fight the flu.
It is noted that researchers involved in TFM have long wanted to cure ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease, in such an unusual way. Australian specialists decided to test the effectiveness of the fecal transplantation method on patients with this disease.
As the authors explain, many bacteria in the human colon are sensitive to oxygen. Scientists of the Green Continent considered that the process of preparing samples of donor feces for transplantation used today can destroy many valuable microorganisms.
In this regard, the researchers modified this stage: they used an anaerobic (oxygen-free) treatment method to obtain samples that were subsequently used in experimental treatment.
Scientists invited 73 people who were diagnosed with varying degrees of ulcerative colitis to take part in the experiment.
The patients were divided into two groups: placebo and experimental. The first group received their own stool samples, and the second group received samples from healthy patients. The latter were treated using a new anaerobic method.
Within one week, three doses of the "medicine" were administered to each subject: the first one entered the body with a colonoscopy, and the next two with an enema.
It is noted that in earlier works, researchers working with TFM performed a greater number of procedures. The authors of a recent paper believe that a new method of preparing stool samples makes treatment more effective, since more beneficial bacteria are preserved in each sample.
"The most important difference from other works is the use of an anaerobic method of processing stool samples," says lead author Samuel Costello from the University of Adelaide. "Many intestinal bacteria die under the influence of oxygen, and we know that with anaerobic fecal treatment, more donor bacteria survive."
Consequently, more beneficial bacteria enter the patient's body.
The results of the work confirmed the assumption of scientists. In patients from the experimental group, the severity of the disease decreased by 32% after eight weeks. Meanwhile, in patients from the control group, the so-called remission rate was 9%.
To date, scientists do not know for how long such treatment helps to weaken ulcerative colitis. However, it is noted that in half of the patients from the second group, painful symptoms did not make themselves felt 12 months after the procedure.
In general, the authors of the work see the need for further research, which can help improve the indicators.
In addition, scientists believe that in the future it is possible to develop a special type of therapy based on microbes.
"Our long-term goal is to develop microbial therapies that can replace TFM. Bacteria will be contained, for example, in tablets. Thus, there will be no need to use whole fecal samples," concludes Costello.
The results of the study are presented in the scientific publication JAMA (Costello et al., Effect of Fecal Microbiota Transplantation on 8-Week Remission in Patients With Ulcerative Colitis: A Randomized Clinical Trial).
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