Autism symptoms reduced nearly 50 percent two years after fecal transplant

[hinterland]

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190409093725.htm

In a new study, "Long-term benefit of Microbiota Transfer Therapy in Autism Symptoms and Gut Microbiota," published in Scientific Reports, Arizona State University researchers Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown, Ph.D., James Adams, Ph.D, and lead author Dae-Wook Kang, Ph.D, demonstrate long-term beneficial effects for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) through a revolutionary technique known as Microbiota Transfer Therapy (MTT), a special type of fecal transplant originally pioneered by Dr. Thomas Borody, an Australian gastroenterologist. Remarkably, improvements in gut health and autism symptoms appear to persist long after treatment.

Based on his experience with his patients, Borody led the design of the clinical treatment used at ASU for this study. The MTT approach involves 10 weeks of treatment, including pre-treatment with vancomycin, a bowel cleanse, a stomach acid suppressant, and fecal microbiota transfer daily for seven to eight weeks.

Professional evaluation revealed a 45% decrease in ASD symptoms compared to baseline. Researchers note that although there may be some placebo effect, much of that effect appears to be real. At the start of the study, 83% of participants were rated as "severe" autism. At the end of the study, only 17% were "severe," 39% were "mild/moderate," and 44% were below the cut-off for mild ASD.

"It is very unusual to see steady gradual improvement after the conclusion of any treatment," said Adams. "We only conducted the long-term follow-up study after several families told us that their child was continuing to improve significantly." Krajmalnik-Brown stated that the data suggests that the MTT intervention transformed the gut environment into a healthier status, leading to long-term benefit on both GI and ASD symptoms.

Due to the open label nature of the study and the small sample size used, more research is needed in order to verify the usefulness of MTT as a therapeutic.

Krajmalnik-Brown and Adams are working now on a larger placebo-controlled trial in adults with ASD to verify their results.

The microbiota formulation used in the original study was developed at the University of Minnesota by Alexander Khoruts and Michael Sadowsky, who developed innovative methods for collecting microbiota from healthy, carefully-screened donors and purifying and freezing them.

They licensed their technology to Finch Therapeutics, who provided financial support for the manufacturing of the therapeutic microbiota used for the study.

 

[pteropus]

coincidentally, for me, faecal testing, some specific antibiotics, then specific bowel flora, minimised my POTS for about 3-6 months. later, another round achieved the same result, which partly faded over time. bowel-cleanse fluids (for a gastroendoscopy?) gave a similar beneficial effect.

if only the effects could be sustained long term ...