Meeting update: faecal microbiota transplantation––bench, bedside, courtroom?

A group of stakeholders met, under the aegis of the British Society of Gastroenterology, to discuss the current landscape of faecal microbiota transplant- ation (FMT) within the UK and beyond. The meeting covered a wide range of topics, ranging from the practical aspects of establishing an FMT service and regu- latory issues relating to its delivery, to research implications and likely future directions

The potential utility of fecal (or intestinal) microbiota transplantation in controlling infectious diseases

The intestinal microbiota is recognized to play a role in the defense against infection, but conversely also acts as a reservoir for potentially pathogenic organisms. Disruption to the microbiome can increase the risk of invasive infection from these organisms; therefore, strategies to restore the composition of the gut microbiota are a potential strategy of key interest to mitigate this risk. Fecal (or Intestinal) Microbiota Transplantation (FMT/IMT), is the administration of minimally manipulated screened healthy donor stool to an affected recipient, and remains the major ‘whole microbiome’ therapeutic approach at present. Driven by the marked success of using FMT in the treatment of recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection, he potential use of FMT in treating other infectious diseases is an area of active research. In this Review, we discuss key examples of this treatment based on recent findings relating to the interplay between microbiota and infection, and potential further exploitations of FMT/IMT

The implementation of omics technologies in cancer microbiome research

Whilst the interplay between host genetics and the environment plays a pivotal role in the aetiopathogenesis of cancer, there are other key contributors of importance as well. One such factor of central and growing interest is the contribution of the microbiota to cancer. Even though the field is only a few years old, investigation of the ‘cancer microbiome’ has already led to major advances in knowledge of the basic biology of cancer risk and progression, opened novel avenues for biomarkers and diagnostics, and given a better understanding of mechanisms underlying response to therapy. Recent developments in microbial DNA sequencing techniques (and the bioinformatics required for analysis of these datasets) have allowed much more in-depth profiling of the structure of microbial communities than was previously possible. However, for more complete assessment of the functional implications of microbial changes, there is a growing recognition of the importance of the integration of microbial profiling with other omics modalities, with metabonomics (metabolite profiling) and proteomics (protein profiling) both gaining particular recent attention. In this review, we give an overview of some of the key scientific techniques being used to unravel the role of the cancer microbiome. We have aimed to highlight practical aspects related to sample collection and preparation, choice of the modality of analysis, and examples of where different omics technologies have been complementary to each other to highlight the significance of the cancer microbiome