Latest news with #OrlandoDeLeon
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Health
- Yahoo
This Poop 'Cure' May Have Unintended Long-Term Effects, Study Finds
Faecal microbial transplants (FMT), which involve transferring stool samples from a healthy gut to someone else's colon, have yielded some impressive medical results in the past. Researchers have seen promising signs of its ability to address irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn's disease, and even early Parkinson's (though this benefit only seemed to be short-lived) and other neurological issues. It has a 90% success rate for treating a bacterium related to diarrhoea, the BBC reported. But a new study published in the journal Cells has raised questions about the long-term safety of FMT treatments, suggesting that a bacterial 'mismatch' may cause problems with the patient's immune system and metabolism down the line. The scientists only found the link in mice and were not able to say how the changes they witnessed in the animals might manifest in people. They gave antibiotics to mice to interrupt their gut's normal microbiome, and then treated them with FMT and monitored them for one to three months. Often, the researchers discovered, the gut bacteria ended up in the wrong part of the gut – 'regional mismatches' – that seemed to disrupt the gut. After taking biopsies of the liver and gut, the scientists found that some genes, especially those related to the immune system and metabolism, had changed. Speaking to the University of Chicago, the study's lead author, researcher Orlando 'Landon' DeLeon said: 'I think it's a bit of a wake-up call to the field that maybe we shouldn't willy-nilly put large bowel microbes into different parts of the intestine that shouldn't be there. 'There are microbes along the entire intestinal tract, and we just study predominantly the last third of it (the colon),' he added. 'So how can you expect an FMT, with microbes from a third of the intestinal tract at the end of it, to fix the rest of the intestine?' No. This study was done on mice, which have different anatomies from us; even though the scientists found genetic changes in the liver and gut, they are not sure yet how those changes might affect even the mouse, never mind us. The study's researchers, however, still think it's a good idea to pursue 'omni-microbial transplants,' or OMT, writing in their paper: 'regional microbial mismatches after FMTs can lead to unintended consequences and require rethinking of microbiome-based interventions.' OMTs would include more bacteria from a greater area of the gut, theoretically increasing the likelihood that the correct ones will go to the right spot. Gut Health Discovery Could Help Future Parkinson's Diagnoses Let's Settle This – Is The Viral 'Puff Vs Pit' Armpit Health Check Actually Helpful? New Study Finds The Exact Age Bad Health Habits Catch Up To You
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
‘Poop transplants' have been happening for decades. Now researchers have identified some unintended consequences
Fecal microbiota transplants are common medical procedures dating back decades that can help restore the gut health of people with colon infections - but scientists now warn of newly discovered consequences from the procedure. The 'poop transplant' is the transfer of the stool of a healthy donor to a recipient. The stool contains beneficial bacteria that can improve the patient's gut bacteria, which guards immune health and helps to regulate metabolism. They are approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat people with common C. diff infections that may cause severe gastrointestinal symptoms and inflammation in hospital patients who have been on antibiotics. Roughly 48,000 procedures are done each year. Now, University of Chicago researchers say a study in mice and experiments with human tissue have revealed some long-lasting and unintended consequences due to transplanting microorganisms from only one section of the digestive tract. 'I think it's a bit of a wakeup call to the field that maybe we shouldn't willy-nilly put large bowel microbes into different parts of the intestine that shouldn't be there,' Dr. Orlando 'Landon' DeLeon, postdoctoral researcher at the university, said in a statement. 'If we're designing good therapeutics, we should be aware of the importance of matching the regional microbiota to their proper environments, so that we provide better overall health benefits.' DeLeon is the lead author of the new research, which was published on Friday in the journal Cell. To reach these conclusions, the authors gave three groups of mice transplants of microorganisms from the middle part of the small intestine that connects to the colon, and a standard fecal transplant from the colon. The test showed that the microorganisms from each transplant were able to colonize the entirety of the intestinal tract in the mice -- not just certain regions. This created what they called regional gut mismatches, lasting for up to three months following a transplant. The microbes also altered their new intestinal environments, 'terraforming' the lining in ways that caused changes in the recipient's metabolism, behavior and energy balance. There were shifts in liver metabolism, including activity in genes associated with immune function. The mice also exhibited different eating behaviors. The gut has several distinct regions with vastly different microbial ecosystems. Imbalances in gut bacteria have been tied to a risk of cancer. 'There are microbes along the entire intestinal tract, and we just study predominately the last third of it (the colon),' DeLeon said. 'So, how can you expect [a transplant], with microbes from a third of the intestinal tract at the end of it, to fix the rest of the intestine?' What this means for human patients may be murky right now, but the authors say more caution is needed with the transplants going forward. They advocate for an approach that would transfer microorganism from all regions of the intestine and not just largely from the colon. In the future, they plan to conduct further study related to how different microbes exert their influence in different parts of the intestine and how the gut regions terraformed by microbiota mismatches can be restored. 'We have absolutely no idea what's in FMT, except that it's a combination of microbes,' Dr. Eugene Chang, the Martin Boyer Professor of Medicine at the university and senior author of the study, said. 'But even a single FMT will cause a change in the host-microbe relationships in these very different regions of the bowel that may be very difficult to reverse.'
Gizmodo
13-06-2025
- Health
- Gizmodo
Poop Transplants Not All They're Cracked Up to Be
Fecal transplants have emerged as a potential treatment for a wide range of conditions, including irritable bowel syndrome, diabetes, and even depression. These so-called poop transplants have understandably received a lot of attention, but new research casts a bit of a wet blanket over the practice. The procedure involves taking microbes from the poop of a healthy person and transferring them into a patient's colon. This should restore balance to their gut microbiome, but according to a study published June 6 in the journal Cell, transplanted microbes may colonize the wrong parts of the digestive system. This can result in long-lasting unintended health consequences, the researchers warn. 'I think it's a bit of a wakeup call to the field that maybe we shouldn't willy-nilly put large bowel microbes into different parts of the intestine that shouldn't be there.' 'I think it's a bit of a wakeup call to the field that maybe we shouldn't willy-nilly put large bowel microbes into different parts of the intestine that shouldn't be there,' said lead author Orlando 'Landon' DeLeon, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Chicago, in a statement. DeLeon led a team of researchers through a series of experiments on mice to determine how fecal matter transplants affect different parts of the intestine. The mice were separated into three groups. One received microbes from the jejunum (the middle part of the small intestine), the second received microbes from the cecum (a pouch that connects the small intestine to the colon), and the third received a standard fecal transplant from the colon. Each part of the digestive system contains uniquely adapted microbiota. The researchers wanted to see if the microbes would stick to their respective niches once inside the mice. In fact, they found that each of the transplants successfully colonized the full intestinal tract, creating regional gut 'mismatches' that lasted for up to three months after the procedure. Microbes that colonized parts of the gut where they didn't belong triggered metabolic changes in these intestinal regions, with the potential to affect a patient's health and behavior. The researchers observed changes in the mice's eating habits, activity, and energy expenditure following the transplants. They also documented changes in gene activity associated with immune function, which in turn led to changes in liver metabolism. Most surprising was the manner in which these foreign microbes altered gene and protein expression in the intestinal lining to make the mismatched gut region more suitable for them. 'It's like they're engineering or terraforming their environments to help them fit in,' DeLeon said. To determine whether these mismatches could occur in actual fecal transplant patients, he and his colleagues conducted additional tests using human tissue samples. Results showed that transplanted gut bacteria can colonize parts of the human digestive system where they don't naturally belong. 'If we're designing good therapeutics, we should be aware of the importance of matching the regional microbiota to their proper environments, so that we provide better overall health benefits,' DeLeon said. For example, the findings suggest it may be safer to use microbes retrieved from all the parts of the digestive system, according to the researchers. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) only recommends fecal transplants for treating repeated infections of Clostridium difficile, or C. diff. This bacterium—which can cause severe gastrointestinal symptoms—most commonly sickens hospital patients who have been treated with antibiotics. Fecal transplants have proven to be highly effective for treating these infections, and those results have encouraged researchers to investigate other applications for this procedure. A wave of new research suggests that fecal transplants could treat conditions that go beyond the gut. Indeed, studies have found that this procedure could benefit patients with neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders, multiple sclerosis, type 2 diabetes, and more. DeLeon's findings suggest that doctors need to better understand the risks of fecal matter transplants before this treatment can be used for diseases other than C. diff. He plans to keep investigating how different microbes affect each part of the intestine and explore ways to restore altered regions to their original state. This study shows that when it comes to gut microbes, location really matters. Getting the right bugs in the right place could unlock the full potential of fecal transplants.
The Independent
06-06-2025
- Health
- The Independent
‘Poop transplants' have been happening for decades. Now researchers have identified some unintended consequences
Fecal microbiota transplants are common medical procedures dating back decades that can help restore the gut health of people with colon infections - but scientists now warn of newly discovered consequences from the procedure. The 'poop transplant' is the transfer of the stool of a healthy donor to a recipient. The stool contains beneficial bacteria that can improve the patient's gut bacteria, which guards immune health and helps to regulate metabolism. They are approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat people with common C. diff infections that may cause severe gastrointestinal symptoms and inflammation in hospital patients who have been on antibiotics. Roughly 48,000 procedures are done each year. Now, University of Chicago researchers say a study in mice and experiments with human tissue have revealed some long-lasting and unintended consequences due to transplanting microorganisms from only one section of the digestive tract. 'I think it's a bit of a wakeup call to the field that maybe we shouldn't willy-nilly put large bowel microbes into different parts of the intestine that shouldn't be there,' Dr. Orlando 'Landon' DeLeon, postdoctoral researcher at the university, said in a statement. 'If we're designing good therapeutics, we should be aware of the importance of matching the regional microbiota to their proper environments, so that we provide better overall health benefits.' DeLeon is the lead author of the new research, which was published on Friday in the journal Cell. To reach these conclusions, the authors gave three groups of mice transplants of microorganisms from the middle part of the small intestine that connects to the colon, and a standard fecal transplant from the colon. The test showed that the microorganisms from each transplant were able to colonize the entirety of the intestinal tract in the mice -- not just certain regions. This created what they called regional gut mismatches, lasting for up to three months following a transplant. The microbes also altered their new intestinal environments, 'terraforming' the lining in ways that caused changes in the recipient's metabolism, behavior and energy balance. There were shifts in liver metabolism, including activity in genes associated with immune function. The mice also exhibited different eating behaviors. The gut has several distinct regions with vastly different microbial ecosystems. Imbalances in gut bacteria have been tied to a risk of cancer. 'There are microbes along the entire intestinal tract, and we just study predominately the last third of it (the colon),' DeLeon said. 'So, how can you expect [a transplant], with microbes from a third of the intestinal tract at the end of it, to fix the rest of the intestine?' What this means for human patients may be murky right now, but the authors say more caution is needed with the transplants going forward. They advocate for an approach that would transfer microorganism from all regions of the intestine and not just largely from the colon. In the future, they plan to conduct further study related to how different microbes exert their influence in different parts of the intestine and how the gut regions terraformed by microbiota mismatches can be restored. 'We have absolutely no idea what's in FMT, except that it's a combination of microbes,' Dr. Eugene Chang, the Martin Boyer Professor of Medicine at the university and senior author of the study, said. 'But even a single FMT will cause a change in the host-microbe relationships in these very different regions of the bowel that may be very difficult to reverse.'
