Intestinal microbiota, fecal microbiota transplantation, and inflammatory bowel disease

ABSTRACT

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a complex set of diseases that lead to chronic inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract. Although the etiology of IBD is not fully understood, it is well-known that the intestinal microbiota is associated with the development and maintenance of IBD. Manipulation of the gut microbiota, therefore, may represent a target for IBD therapy. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), where fecal microbiota from a healthy donor is transplanted into a patient's GI tract, is already a successful therapy for Clostridium difficile infection. FMT is currently being explored as a potential therapy for IBD as well. In this review, the associations between the gut microbiota and IBD and the emerging data on FMT for IBD will be discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Inflammatory Bowel Disease
• Crohn's disease
• ulcerative colitis
• fecal microbiota transplant

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

ARW has no conflicts of interest to report.

BPV has received research support for Genetech-Roche and Takeda and speaking/consulting fees from Abbvie and Janssen.

Funding

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health Award Number UL1TR000114. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.