'Poo transplant' trial shows promise in treating severely ill blood cancer patients
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Australia's scientists are preparing to start the first clinical trial involving fecal transplantation to treat blood cancer patients. If successful, the treatment could be a ray of hope for severely ill patients.
Fecal microbiota transplant (FMT), also known as "poo transplant,” is an emerging medical procedure that uses the immune-improving power of trillions of gut microbiomes to restore the gut health of patients. A healthy donor's stool could be transplanted to save the lives of patients with blood cancer who develop post-complications, like GVHD.
The first trial in ten patients
Researchers in Australia are conducting the first FMT trials in blood cancer survivors who have severe Graft-versus-Host-Disease (GVHD). The first trial will include ten patients with blood cancer. Microbiota donors, like blood donors, are thoroughly screened before transplantation.
GVHD can have a significant impact on people who have had a bone marrow transplant to treat cancer. It is a systemic disorder in which immune cells from a donor's bone marrow (the graft) attack the tissues of the recipient (the host).
“A bone marrow transplant can be a double-edged sword. It saves the lives of people with aggressive blood cancers but can then take their lives by causing GVHD which is heartbreaking. GVHD is particularly hard to treat in the gut with patients often hospitalized for long periods of time where they are dependent on hospital care and intensive immune-suppressing medications. Conventional immune-suppressing steroid medication fails to work in half of all GVHD patients,” said Dr Andrea Henden, in an official statement.
Dr. Henden, a QIMR Berghofer clinician-scientist at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital (RBWH), is leading this groundbreaking trial. The trial makes use of a new biological product developed by Australian Red Cross Lifeblood at Perth's Rotary WA Health Innovation Centre.
The team hopes to discover specific microbes that could improve GVHD during fecal transplantation through this groundbreaking trial. If scientists can identify specific microbes, they will be able to create a "simpler targeted supplement or tablet" to treat this disease. Furthermore, the trial could lead to the development of better treatments for conditions similar to GVHD, such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
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