The New Era of Treatment for Obesity and Metabolic Disorders: Evidence and Expectations for Gut Microbiome Transplantation.

Thilini N Jayasinghe,Valentina Chiavaroli,Wayne S Cutfield,David J Holland,Justin M O'Sullivan

doi:10.3389/fcimb.2016.00015

Abstract

Key Points The microbiome has been implicated in the development of obesity.Conventional therapeutic methods have limited effectiveness for the treatment of obesity and prevention of related complications.Gut microbiome transplantation may represent an alternative and effective therapy for the treatment of obesity.Obesity has reached epidemic proportions. Despite a better understanding of the underlying pathophysiology and growing treatment options, a significant proportion of obese patients do not respond to treatment. Recently, microbes residing in the human gastrointestinal tract have been found to act as an “endocrine” organ, whose composition and functionality may contribute to the development of obesity. Therefore, fecal/gut microbiome transplantation (GMT), which involves the transfer of feces from a healthy donor to a recipient, is increasingly drawing attention as a potential treatment for obesity. Currently the evidence for GMT effectiveness in the treatment of obesity is preliminary. Here, we summarize benefits, procedures, and issues associated with GMT, with a special focus on obesity.

Highlights

Obesity has recently been identified as a disease by the American Medical Association with >33% of the world’s adult population (20 years and older) overweight or obese (World Health Organization, 2014)
Changes in the ratio of different gut microbial species have been associated with onset and development of several disorders, including obesity (Ley et al, 2005)
It can be assumed that gut microbiota impacts on host metabolism through the promotion of increased uptake of monosaccharides, storage of triglyceride, digestion of dietary fiber (Bäckhed et al, 2004), and synthesis of hormonal precursors (Hartstra et al, 2014)

Summary

Key Points

The microbiome has been implicated in the development of obesity. Conventional therapeutic methods have limited effectiveness for the treatment of obesity and prevention of related complications. Gut microbiome transplantation may represent an alternative and effective therapy for the treatment of obesity. The microbiome has been implicated in the development of obesity. Conventional therapeutic methods have limited effectiveness for the treatment of obesity and prevention of related complications. Gut microbiome transplantation may represent an alternative and effective therapy for the treatment of obesity. Reviewed by: Marina Santic’, University of Rijeka, Croatia V. Despite a better understanding of the underlying pathophysiology and growing treatment options, a significant proportion of obese patients do not respond to treatment. Fecal/gut microbiome transplantation (GMT), which involves the transfer of feces from a healthy donor to a recipient, is increasingly drawing attention as a potential treatment for obesity. The evidence for GMT effectiveness in the treatment of obesity is preliminary.

INTRODUCTION

Findings

CONCLUSION