Transplant the functional flora in the feces of healthy people into the patient’s gastrointestinal tract to rebuild new intestinal flora and achieve the treatment of intestinal and extra-intestinal diseases. This is an area that is relatively new and attracts attention in the field of digestion – fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT).
Among the many functional flora, the well-known is the intestinal probiotics, but in the intestinal microecology, in addition to bacteria, there are also a large number of viruses and fungi, to some extent, they It also plays a crucial role in the effect of fecal microbial transplantation in the treatment of intestinal microecological disorders. Recently, the Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University was invited by the internationally renowned journal “Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology”, a sub-journal of “Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology”, and published a review online with the hospital as the first unit. The role of enteroviruses and fungi in fecal microbial transplantation in the treatment of different diseases.
Researcher Zuo Tao, Professor Lan Ping and Chief Physician Wu Xiaojian of the hospital are the co-corresponding authors, SiuLam of the University of Sydney, Dr. Bai Xiaowu of the hospital, National Cork of Ireland University Andrey Shkoporov and Columbia University Heekuk Park are co-authors.
Intestinal microecological disorders
Can lead to many diseases
Researcher Zuo Tao said, A variety of human diseases, such as Clostridium difficile infection, obesity, type 2 diabetes, necrotizing enterocolitis, inflammatory bowel disease, etc., are actually closely related to intestinal microecological disorders. The fecal microbiota transplantation mentioned above is a kind of preparation liquid prepared by transplanting fecal microorganisms of healthy donors into the patient’s intestine, so as to achieve the purpose of resetting the patient’s intestinal microecology and treating diseases. In addition to bacteria, the intestinal microecology also contains a large number of viruses and fungi, which are also collectively referred to as enteroviruses and fungi, respectively. The influence of the virome and mycobiome on the success of fecal transplant therapy has only recently been appreciated.
Recent studies have found that enteroviruses and fungi play an important role in the occurrence and development of human health and disease, especially in the colonization and efficacy of microbial transplantation. Its role is becoming more and more obvious.
This review elaborates on the different roles of enteroviruses and fungi in the treatment of different diseases. At the same time, the article also expounds the different advantages and disadvantages of the transplantation of the virus group and the fungal group on the host. Among them, the transplantation of bacteriophage (bacterial virus) and the transplantation of candida (fungus) play a particularly important role in the treatment.
The composition and function of enteroviruses. (A) Composition and impact factors of human enterovirus groups. (B) Function of enterovirus groups in the host.
Enteroviruses and fungi can also be used for the treatment of specific diseases
According to reports, the human enterovirus group mainly includes prokaryotic viruses (mainly bacteriophages). ) and eukaryotic viruses. Among them, bacteriophages have an alternate life cycle of mild and lytic types in the gastrointestinal tract, and can affect the composition of intestinal bacteria through integration and lysis. The healthy human enterovirome is dominated by mild phages that can switch from mild to lytic replication during host inflammation. Phages have been the focus of most human enterovirome studies due to their predominance over eukaryotic viruses in the enterovirome and their direct role and function in regulating bacterial composition.
Viral and bacterial transplantation of fecal bacteria has been shown to be associated with efficacy in a variety of diseases, including Clostridium difficile infection, inflammatory bowel disease, and graft-versus-host disease after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Since 2019, there have been several studies using sterile fecal filtrate and fecal viral transplantation to illustrate the role of the enterovirome in the treatment of diseases including obesity, type 2 diabetes, necrotizing enterocolitis and post-antibiotic Microbiota imbalance, etc.
The composition and function of the gut microbiota. (A) Composition and influencing factors of the human gut microbiota. (B) Function of the gut microbiota in the host.
On the other hand, the human gastrointestinal tract is rich in fungi, collectively referred to as the intestinal flora. Metagenome sequencing revealed that fungi make up about 0.1% of the gut microbiota. Studies have shown that the gut contains more than 50 fungal genera, with Candida, Saccharomyces, Cladosporium and Malassezia being the most abundant. Intestinal resident fungi are symbiotic and antagonistic with gut bacteria to jointly shape host immunity. Gut fungi have been shown to be causally linked to microbial assembly and immune development. Growing evidence suggests that the gut microbiota can strongly influence the host immune system, and that this interaction correlates with bacterial activity. Intestinal fungal dysbiosis plays an important role in the pathogenesis of various diseases. This suggests that targeting the gut microbiota is a promising therapeutic approach.
Zuo Tao said that the main efficacy of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) in the treatment of diseases is achieved by the complex interaction of human bacteria-virus-fungus-host immunity. In the future basic research and translational research, the role of fungi and viruses in disease treatment will be further revealed, and further clinical translation will be guided accordingly.
Written by: Southern Metropolis reporter Wang Daobin correspondent Jian Wenyang Dai Xi’an