Abstract
As the importance of the gut microbiota in health and disease is a subject of growing interest, fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) was suggested as an attractive therapeutic strategy to restore homeostasis of the gut microbiota, thereby treating diseases that were associated with alteration of the gut microbiota. FMT involves the administration of fresh, frozen, or dried fecal microorganisms from the gut of a healthy donor into the intestinal tract of a patient. This rediscovery of the potential benefits of an ancient practice was accompanied by a rapid progression of our understanding of the roles and mechanisms of gut microbes in the pathogenesis of disease. With a growing number of diseases being associated with dysbiosis or the alteration of gut microbiota, FMT was suggested as an attractive therapeutic strategy to “reset the gut” and initiate clinical resolutions or remissions. The number of FMT clinical trials is increasing worldwide, but no trials are registered in the Gulf region; this suggested the need for raising awareness of the latest studies on FMT. This review presented the emergent preclinical and clinical data to give an overview of the potential clinical applications, the benefits, and inconveniences that were worth considering for eventual future testing of fecal transplants in Qatar and the Middle East. This study highlighted the diversity of methods tested and commented on the variables that can affect the assessment of the effectiveness of FMT in specific diseases. The risks associated with FMT and the threat of antimicrobial resistance for this therapeutic approach were reviewed. From gastrointestinal diseases to neurodevelopmental disorders, understanding the roles of the gut microbiota in health and disease should be at the heart of developing novel, standardized, yet personalized, methods for this ancient therapeutic approach.
Highlights
Over the past few decades, the importance of the human gut microbiome and its central role in revolutionizing the way the disease is understood and treated has become increasingly evident
This review reports latest developments on fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) and its current clinical applications by giving an overview of the clinical trials registered in clinicaltrial.gov database
While its primary application is the C. difficile infection, FMTs are being tested on a large panel of diseases and disorders including gastrointestinal diseases, cancers, neurological diseases, neurodevelopmental disorders, antimicrobial resistance, and many more
Summary
Over the past few decades, the importance of the human gut microbiome and its central role in revolutionizing the way the disease is understood and treated has become increasingly evident. As several diseases and disorders have been associated with gut dysbiosis,[1,2,3,4,5,6,7] a new therapeutic approach that aims at instantly correcting the gut dysbiosis emerged: the fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT). This therapy is currently the focus of heated discussions between scientists, clinicians, and the general public[8] (Figure 1). These methods have mixed benefits, risks, and inconvenience (Figure 2)
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