Abstract
Disruption of the intestinal microbiota occurs frequently in allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) recipients and predisposes them to development of graft-versus-host disease (GvHD). In a prospective, single-center, single-arm study, we investigated the effect of donor fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) on symptoms of steroid-refractory or steroid-dependent, acute or late-onset acute intestinal GvHD in 15 individuals who had undergone allo-HCT. Study participants received a fecal suspension from an unrelated healthy donor via nasoduodenal infusion. Donor FMT was well tolerated, and infection-related adverse events did not seem to be related to the FMT procedure. In 10 of 15 study participants, a complete clinical response was observed within 1 month after FMT, without additional interventions to alleviate GvHD symptoms. This response was accompanied by an increase in gut microbial a-diversity, a partial engraft-ment of donor bacterial species, and increased abundance of butyrate-producing bacteria, including Clostridiales and Blautia species. In 6 of the 10 responding donor FMT recipients, immunosuppressant drug therapy was successfully tapered. Durable remission of steroid-refractory or steroid-dependent GvHD after donor FMT was associated with improved survival at 24 weeks after donor FMT. This study highlights the potential of donor FMT as a treatment for steroid-refractory or steroid-dependent GvHD, but larger clinical trials are needed to confirm the safety and efficacy of this procedure.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 8926 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Science Translational Medicine |
Volume | 12 |
Issue number | 556 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 12 Aug 2020 |
Keywords
- antibiotics
- antigens
- bacteremia
- diversity
- feces
- gut microbiota
- project
- risk
- secretor
- strains
- STRAINS
- ANTIBIOTICS
- PROJECT
- FECES
- RISK
- ANTIGENS
- GUT MICROBIOTA
- BACTEREMIA
- DIVERSITY
- SECRETOR