Differences among healthy, sick and MDR colonized patient's gut microbiome and the effect of Fecal Microbiota Transplantation as a therapeutic strategy to restore the gut microbiome.

• Grant number: 23/14561-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: December 01, 2023
• Status: Discontinued
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Microbiology - Applied Microbiology
• Principal Investigator: Ana Cristina Gales
• Grantee: Ághata Cardoso da Silva Ribeiro
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 21/10599-3 - The Antimicrobial Resistance Institute of São Paulo (The Aries Project), AP.CEPID
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/14957-0 - Unraveling Challenges in Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria Colonization: From Microbiota Dynamics to Therapeutic Interventions, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

Gut microbiome is an important part of the human body, since it comprises up to 1000 different bacterial species and approximately 104 microorganisms [Fujimura et al., 2020]. There are many studies reporting intestine dysbiosis in sick patients, and also relating important differences in microbiota composition to healthy and sick patients. This fact highlights the intestinal microbiota as an important biomarker for good health and diseases. Thus, restoring the gastrointestinal microbiota to achieve good health is a challenge and also an opportunity. In this sense, the Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT) has been purposed [Markey; van der Brink; Peled, 2020]. FMT is a therapeutic procedure which aims to reconstruct and improve a patient's gut microbiome by transferring fecal microbiota from a donor to a recipient patient's gut. In the last years, FMT has been used for different therapeutic goals in treating diseases such as Crohn's disease, depression disorders, autism, Parkinson's disease and epilepsy [Junca; Dietmar; Medina, 2022]. Also, FMT is an alternative therapy which could be used to treat recurrent C. difficile-associated diarrheae and in achieving patient's gut multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens decolonization [Saha et al., 2019]. In the nosocomial setting, controlling the spread of MDR bacteria is crucial to prevent further infections. Patients colonized with MDR bacteria are at risk of infections and can be reservoirs for further dissemination of these pathogens. Thus, the use of new therapeutic strategies to control the emergence and spread of MDR bacteria, as FMT, has been encouraged [Vila et al., 2018]. To date, in Brazil the FMT is not common yet, evidencing the need for further studies in this sense. Therefore, a stool bank development as well as trials conducted to use FMT in different applications and delivery forms are needed.