Fecal transplants as a microbiome-based therapeutic

Nadeem O Kaakoush

School of Medical Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.

Impaired microbiome diversity and composition can develop into a potent etiological agent of disease and increase susceptibility to infection. Given this, interventions targeting the microbiome have developed rapidly, with healthy donor feces being a de facto source of beneficial communities employed to rebalance patients’ microbiomes. Recent evidence has demonstrated that bacterial and viral richness, short chain fatty acid production, bile acid conversion as well as presence of bacterial and fungal pathobionts are associated with therapy efficacy; however, little is known of the influence of host factors such as genetics, medications, and diet. Here, current knowledge on factors associated with fecal transplant efficacy, as well as efforts to transition to other forms of therapy are reviewed.