Largest Planned Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT) study enrolls first patient

The first participant has enrolled in the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT) National Registry, which is planned to be the largest FMT study ever. The AGA FMT National Registry—funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and administered by the AGA Center for Gut Microbiome Research and Education—will track 4,000 patients for 10 years after their FMT procedure, providing a wealth of data about the procedure's effectiveness and both short- and long-term effects of FMT.

Fecal microbiota transplant is a medical procedure in which the stool from a healthy person is prepared and then put into the intestine of a sick patient. FMT is most commonly used to treat Clostridium difficile (C. diff) infection, if antibiotics have not been able to get rid of the infection.

"Today is an important milestone for the AGA FMT National Registry. What's ahead is a significant repository of data for investigators working to advance FMT research, better information for physicians on when and how to use FMT, and reassurance for patients that we now understand the risks and benefits of this procedure," said Gary D. Wu, MD, a principal investigator for the registry and founding chair of the AGA Center for Gut Microbiome Research and Education scientific advisory board. "We look forward to embarking on this comprehensive data collection project and are eager to share our findings with the public."

First Patient Enrolled

The first patient enrolled in the FMT National Registry received a fecal transplant through the Gastroenterology Center of Connecticut/Medical Research Center of Connecticut by Paul Feuerstadt, MD, assistant clinical professor of medicine at Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT. The patient being treated had experienced multiple recurrences of C. difficile infection. As part of the registry, Dr. Feuerstadt will follow up with the patient four times over the next two years and report back on the patient's health post-FMT. The patient will also provide yearly reports for up to 10 years.

How Patients Can Take Part in the FMT National Registry

AGA expects 75 sites to be included in this registry. Visit ClinicalTrials.Gov https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/study/NCT03325855?cond=FMT+National+registry&rank=1 on a regular basis to track new sites added to the registry. Patients should reach out to their health care provider to discuss participation in the registry. Patients should first review AGA's patient information on fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) http://www.gastro.org/info_for_patients/clostridium-difficile-106-fmt-details.

UC San Diego to Build FMT National Registry Biobank

AGA is collaborating with the American Gut Project—an academic effort run by the laboratory of Rob Knight, PhD, professor and director of the Center for Microbiome Innovation at the University of California, San Diego—to build a biobank of stool samples from participants in the FMT National Registry. American Gut will receive stool samples from registry participants before and after their FMT. The microbiota will be sequenced in each sample, and remaining material will be frozen to be made available for future research. Eventually, this information could help doctors screen and select the best donor samples for individual patients.

OpenBiome Joins as a Registry Collaborator

AGA is also collaborating with OpenBiome, a public stool bank and nonprofit research organization that provides clinicians with rigorously screened, ready-to-use stool preparations for fecal transplant procedures. As the only public stool bank in the country, OpenBiome serves as the source of stool preparations for nearly 1,000 clinical partners performing FMT across the United States. For patients enrolled in the registry who receive OpenBiome FMT material, OpenBiome will provide screening information and samples to support the registry's research analyses.

Provided by American Gastroenterological Association