Microbiota transplantation has become a research focus of clinical medicine in recent years.
The use of microbes as a treatment for human disease is known from ancient china and now should be important to implement this knowledge in modern medicine.
It has recently been demonstrated, and above all already approved, that microbiota transplantation is affective in the treatment of recurrent Clostridium Difficile infections; furthermore clinical trials are underway for the microbiota transplantation to treat several diseases such as refractory ulcerative colitis, Chron’s disease, Irritable Bowel Disease (IBS).
It looks easy for patients to understand the transplantation of microbiota into gut. A recent survey on patients’ attitude showed that 75% of 105 patients with Chron’s disease were willing to receive a second transplantation, additionally nearly 90% of them showed their willingness to recommend it to other patients.
Although it has been several years now that microbiota transplantation has proven to be more effective than treatment with probiotics, it is still perceived as something that only concerns the gastro-intestinal system.
From 2017, however, many studies have been carried out on microbiota transplantation in other human body’s areas such as reproductive and urinary tract and the skin.
Finally, the modulation of microbiota is also giving excellent results in the oncological field; a 2018 study in fact demonstrated that microbiota transplantation was a key element in increasing the effectiveness of immunotherapy against skin cancer.
Our microbiota is a powerful ally for our health, and modern medicine is now able to exploit its potential for the treatment of some highly debilitating diseases for those who suffer from it, guaranteeing a widely demonstrated result and a low invasiveness of the therapy. In fact in some cases the microbiota transplantation can be performed through the simple ingestion of a capsule, while for other disorders it is necessary to inoculate it on site.
Reference
Zhang F et al. Protein Cell. 2018 May;9(5):462-473
