antares4141
Senior Member
- Messages
- 579
- Location
- Truth or consequences, nm
Fecal microbe transplants help cancer patients respond to immunotherapy and shrink tumors
The effect of a drug, or impact of a treatment like chemotherapy, doesn’t just depend on your body. The success of a particular medicine also depends on the trillions of bacteria in your gut.
The 100 trillion bacteria that live within the human digestive tract – known as the human gut microbiome – help us extract nutrients from food, boost the immune response and modulate the effects of drugs.
Recent research, including my own, has implicated the gut microbiome in seemingly unconnected states, ranging from the response to cancer treatments to obesity and a host of neurological diseases, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, depression, schizophrenia and autism.
What underlies these apparently discrete observations is the unifying idea that the gut microbiota send signals beyond the gut and that these signals have broad effects on a large swathe of target tissues.
I am a medical oncologist whose research involves developing novel therapies for melanoma.
To evaluate whether altering the microbiome could benefit cancer patients, my colleagues and I evaluated the transfer of fecal matter from melanoma patients who responded well to immunotherapy to those patients for whom immunotherapy failed.
Just published in the journal Science, our results reveal that this treatment helped shrink the tumors of advanced melanoma patients when other therapies hadn’t worked.
The gut microbiome looks like it has powerful effects outside of the gut.
This is a quote from the article.......
I just don't have the time to do research or read posts here. Wondering what recent studies on the efficacy rate of fecal transplantation are saying.
Yes lot's of studies indicate bacteria in your gut have effects on all kinds of things outside of your gut.
Always a little leery about this area of research being overly hyped though.
Abstract
Introduction: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) has a complex and multifactorial etiology making treatment and definitive diagnosis, currently made through exclusion, difficult.
Current therapies, such as cognitive behaviour therapy and graded exercises, are inadequate and targeted to address symptoms, rather than the underlying disease pathology.
Increasing evidence implicates the microbiota of the gut in a number of conditions previously thought distinct from the gastrointestinal system. Previous work with bacteriotherapy in CFS has suggested a link between the condition and the composition and health of the gut microbiota.
Here, we review and further examine a larger cohort of CFS patients who had undergone bacteriotherapy for their CFS. Method: A total of 60 patients from the Centre for Digestive Diseases presented with CFS.
Of these, 52 patients had concurrent IBS and 4 patients additionally had constipation. All underwent initial transcolonoscopic infusion of 13 non-pathogenic enteric bacteria. 52/60 patients undertook an additional rectal infusion a day later and 3/60 undertook an additional 2 rectal infusions.
Results: 35/60 patients who underwent initial bacteriotherapy responded to treatment. 10/15 patients who failed this course were offered a secondary transcolonoscopic infusion followed by a rectal infusion or an oral course of cultured bacteria.
Of these 7/10 responded, giving a total of 42/60 (70%) patients who responded to treatment. Contact was achieved with 12 patients after 15-20 year follow-up. Complete resolution of symptoms was maintained in seven of the twelve patients and 5/12 did not experience recurrence for approximately 1.5-3 years post bacteriotherapy.
Conclusion: Bacteriotherapy achieves initial success rate of 70% in CFS and a 58% sustained response. Given that manipulation of the colonic microbiota improved CFS symptoms, bacteriotherapy for CFS warrants further investigation and may provide further insight into a possible etiology of CFS.
Based on the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) rated by a professional evaluator, the severity of ASD at the two-year follow-up was 47% lower than baseline (Fig. 1b), compared to 23% lower at the end of week 10.
At the beginning of the open-label trial, 83% of participants rated in the severe ASD diagnosis per the CARS (Fig. 2a). At the two-year follow-up, only 17% were rated as severe, 39% were in the mild to moderate range, and 44% of participants were below the ASD diagnostic cut-off scores (Fig. 2a).
The parent-rated Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) assessment revealed that 89% of participants were in the severe range at the beginning of the trial, but the percentile dropped to 47% at the two-year follow-up (Fig. 2b), with 35% in the mild/moderate range and 18% below the cut-off for ASD.
You would think researchers and dr's that treat CFS would be all over this with results that impressive? Are there any posts on' this form with people having that level of success?IConclusion: Bacteriotherapy achieves initial success rate of 70% in CFS and a 58% sustained response.Given that manipulation of the colonic microbiota improved CFS symptoms, bacteriotherapy for CFS warrants further investigation and may provide further insight into a possible etiology of CFS.
You would think researchers and dr's that treat CFS would be all over this with results that impressive?
Are there any posts on' this form with people having that level of success?
I started back in January and the most significant portion of my remission has remained since about March. I did however perform about 9-12 FMT transplantation events between Jan-Mar. I may have been able to get away with fewer and especially if I started resistant starch earlier. I did wait for 1/2 year to report a remission.
I also believe I can explain why most FMT attempts fail.
I agree. I wonder how many Dr's or researchers know about it.
I've dreamed of an outcome like that for 23 years. Surely anyone who is anybody knows about this! Why aren't they doing more trials and studies?last post was January 2019. I am assuming he is still 100%. Last I knew he was doing martial arts and all kinds of cardio with no problem. He has a blog somewhere detailing his experience but I can't find it!
I've dreamed of an outcome like that for 23 years. Surely anyone who is anybody knows about this! Why aren't they doing more trials and studies?
I've had that same dream for a long time. I've had ME/CFS for 43 years..
Like to see more people doing it and getting better with the treatment. Than I would definitely look into it.I
As they better perfect FMT, that percentage will go even higher.
This illness has taken so much from so many. It's hard to fathom how authorities can simply sit on their hands when they are not funding studies like Pace.
Like to see more people doing it and getting better with the treatment. Than I would definitely look into it.