Fecal microbiota transplantation in patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis: A pilot clinical trial

Abstract

Background: Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a cholestatic liver disease with no effective medical therapies. A perturbation of the gut microbiota has been described in association with PSC, and fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) has been reported to restore the microbiome in other disease states. Accordingly, we aimed to evaluate the safety, change in liver enzymes, microbiota and metabolomic profiles in PSC patients after FMT. Methods: Open-label pilot study of PSC patients with concurrent inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and ALP > 1.5X the upper limit of normal. Participants underwent a single FMT by colonoscopy. Liver enzyme profiles and stool microbiome and metabolomic analysis was conducted at baseline and week 1, 4, 8, 12 and 24 post-FMT. The primary outcome was safety and secondary outcomes include a decrease in ALP ≥50% from baseline by week 24 post-FMT, as well as stool microbiota (by 16S rRNA gene profiling) and metabonomic dynamics were assessed. Results. Ten patients underwent FMT. Nine patients had ulcerative colitis and 1 with Crohn’s colitis. The mean baseline ALP was 489 U/L. There were no related adverse events. Overall, 30% (3/10) experienced a ≥50% decrease ALP. The diversity increased in all patients post-FMT, as early as week 1 (p<0.01). Importantly, abundance of engrafter operational taxanomic units (OTUs) in patients post-FMT correlated with decreased ALP (p=0.02). Conclusion: To our knowledge, this first study to demonstrate that FMT in PSC is safe. Additionally, increases in bacterial diversity and engraftment may correlate with an improvement in ALP among PSC patients.