Genetic material analysis and machine learning helped UBC researchers to pinpoint several key factors to ensure successful fecal microbiota transplants (FMT), which have proven successful in treating bacterial infections.
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‘Preparing donors and patients' gut ecosystems prior to transplant would potentially sync. their microbiota leading the way to a higher probability of transplant success.’
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Kazemian and her supervisor, Assistant Professor Sepideh Pakpour, are investigating the internal dynamics of both donors and recipients to set out a formula for the effectiveness of the therapy.Read More..
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C. difficile is one of the most frequently identified health care-associated infection in North America, she adds. Once a patient gets it, the illness often recurs, making a significant negative impact on a patient's gut microorganisms.
Kazemian explains that severely damaged gut ecosystems, like someone who has had C. difficile, are not self-renewing. Therefore, FMT can help by restoring damaged systems through the recreation of the original ecosystem, or the construction of an entirely new and alternative ecosystem.
"In our study, we showed that the success of gut ecological recovery through FMT is dependent on several factors, including the donor gut microbiome--the presence of specific bacteria--as well as the recipient's pre-FMT gut community structures and the absence of specific bacteria and fungi."
Some previous studies have pointed to the possibility of "super" donors, but these new findings indicate the relationship between donors and recipients is much more complex. Pakpour says the notion of the super-donor is oversimplified due to the observed short-term fluctuations. A recipient's microbiota may be just as important to consider when predicting treatment outcomes, especially in unbalanced conditions such as ulcerative colitis.
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Working with data from the University of Alberta Hospital, Kazemian and Pakpour analyzed the gut composition and DNA from samples extracted before and after FMT.
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"The data illustrates that the unique microorganisms in everyone's bodies respond differently over time, and this has profound implications on whether these transplants work well or not."
The researchers suggest that preparing donors and patients' gut ecosystems prior to transplant, maybe by using metabolites, would potentially sync their microbiota leading the way to a higher probability of transplant success.
Source-Eurekalert