In a novel study that identified male chromosome genetic material in the intestines of female patients undergoing fecal transplants, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine say they have significantly expanded scientific understanding of how some of these transplants may succeed and work. Fecal microbiota transplant, or FMT, is a procedure in which stool from healthy donors is transplanted via colonoscopy into the bowels of people with dangerous and recurrent infections caused by a bacterium called Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile).
Many previous studies show that the transplanted fecal material from healthy donors restores the balance of good bacteria that are markers of a healthy gut in people whose recurrent C.difficile infections have been treated with heavy duty antibiotics that wipe out "good" bacteria as well as bad. Recurrent C.
difficile infection is an often debilitating condition marked by severe diarrhea and inflammation of the colon. Researchers say the infections are notoriously difficult to treat, with conventional antibiotic therapies often failing to provide long-term relief and cure of the infection. The new study, described in the Journal of Gastro Hep Advances on October 18, shows that transfer donor cells that line the intestinal tract along with the donor's fecal matter may be responsible for improved outcomes for at least some patients.
Our study suggests the possibility of donor intestinal epithelial cell transfer during fecal microbiota transplant.