For the treatment of recurrent Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is becoming increasingly extensively employed. Researchers recently reported the successful use of standardized, partially purified, and frozen fecal microbiota to treat CDI, whereas previous treatments used fresh fecal slurries as a source of microbiota for FMT. Following FMT with frozen fecal bacteria from a healthy donor, high-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed sustained engraftment of gut microbiota. Similar bacterial taxa were discovered in post-transplantation samples from recipients and donors, although relative abundance varied greatly between patients and time points. Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes were found to be more abundant in post-FMT samples from patients, accounting for 75–80% of the total sequence reads. Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria were observed to be less prevalent (<5%) than in patients before FMT. The Bacteroidetes phylum was represented by a great abundance of members of the families Bacteroidaceae, Rikenellaceae, and Porphyromonadaceae, and was largely comprised of Bacteroides, Alistipes, and Parabacteroides genera, with the Bacteroidetes phylum represented by a great abundance of members of the families Bacteroidaceae, Rikenellaceae, and Porphyromonadaceae. Ruminococcaceae, Lachnospiraceae, Verrucomicrobiaceae, and unclassified Clostridiales and Firmicutes were all represented in the phylum Firmicutes. After 1 patient took antibiotics for an unrelated infection, the amount of intestinal Proteobacteria, especially Enterobacteriaceae, increased. The findings show that frozen fecal microbiota from a healthy donor can be used to effectively treat recurrent CDI, resulting in gut microbiota restoration and Clostridium difficile clearance.
Link:www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.4161/gmic.23571
