GUT MICROBIOME CHANGES AND TREATMENT RESPONSE FOLLOWING FECAL MICROBIOTA TRANSPLANTATION IN ULCERATIVE COLITIS
Keywords:
ulcerative colitis, fecal microbiota transplantation, gut microbiome, treatment response, microbial abundance
Abstract
FMT could influence the gut microbiome of patients with ulcerative colitis (UC), though the relationship between changes in the microbiome and response is unclear. This exploratory analysis included ten patients with UC (4 of which were responders and 6 nonresponders) with paired phylum-level profiles. The unit of analysis was the patient. Medians were used for summarization of relative abundances, and exact label-permutation tests were used for comparing within-patient changes between groups, with adjustment for seven comparisons. Median abundance of Bacteroidetes increased by 13.55 points and Firmicutes decreased by 22.05 points among responders. The changes in nonresponders were −19.15 and +18.44 points. Proteobacteria saw a decrease in both groups, and a greater median decrease in the responders. There were also differences in baseline abundances between groups, and no between-group difference was statistically significant following multiple testing adjustment. These results reflect the different pairs of microbial patterns based on the recorded response status and do not indicate the treatment effects nor clinical biomarkers. More larger cohorts with known clinical outcome, donor details and more detailed microbial data are required to determine if patterns are repeatable.
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References
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2.Doukas, P. G., Doukas, S. G., & Broder, A. (2026). Effectiveness and safety of fecal microbiota transplantation for ulcerative colitis treatment: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Digestive Diseases, 44(1), 85-98.
3.El Hage Chehade, N., Ghoneim, S., Shah, S., Chahine, A., Mourad, F. H., Francis, F. F., ... & Hashash, J. G. (2023). Efficacy of fecal microbiota transplantation in the treatment of active ulcerative colitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of double-blind randomized controlled trials. Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, 29(5), 808-817.
4.Feng, J., Chen, Y., Liu, Y., Lin, L., Lin, X., Gong, W., ... & Xiao, C. (2023). Efficacy and safety of fecal microbiota transplantation in the treatment of ulcerative colitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 14494.
5.Gogokhia, L., Tran, N., Grier, A., Nagayama, M., Xiang, G., Funez-dePagnier, G., ... & Longman, R. S. (2025). Donor composition and fiber promote strain engraftment in a randomized controlled trial of fecal microbiota transplant for ulcerative colitis. Med, 6(9).
6.Halsey, T. M., Thomas, A. S., Hayase, T., Ma, W., Abu-Sbeih, H., Sun, B., ... & Wang, Y. (2023). Microbiome alteration via fecal microbiota transplantation is effective for refractory immune checkpoint inhibitor–induced colitis. Science Translational Medicine, 15(700), eabq4006.
7.Huang, C., Huang, Z., Ding, L., Fu, Y., Fan, J., Mei, Q., ... & Zeng, Y. (2022). Fecal microbiota transplantation versus glucocorticoids for the induction of remission in mild to moderate ulcerative colitis. Journal of Translational Medicine, 20(1), 354.
8.jaijjee. (2022). FMT-treated patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) [Data set]. Kaggle. https://www.kaggle.com/datasets/jaijjee/uc-fmt
9.Lahtinen, P., Jalanka, J., Mattila, E., Tillonen, J., Bergman, P., Satokari, R., & Arkkila, P. (2023). Fecal microbiota transplantation for the maintenance of remission in patients with ulcerative colitis: a randomized controlled trial. World journal of gastroenterology, 29(17), 2666.
10.Leibovitzh, H., Sarbagili Shabat, C., Hirsch, A., Zittan, E., Mentella, M. C., Petito, V., ... & Maharshak, N. (2024). Faecal transplantation for ulcerative colitis from diet conditioned donors followed by dietary intervention results in favourable gut microbial profile compared to faecal transplantation alone. Journal of Crohn's and Colitis, 18(10), 1606-1614.
11.Liu, H., Li, J., Yuan, J., Huang, J., & Xu, Y. (2023). Fecal microbiota transplantation as a therapy for treating ulcerative colitis: an overview of systematic reviews. BMC microbiology, 23(1), 371.
12.Pinto, S., Šajbenová, D., Benincà, E., Nooij, S., Terveer, E. M., Keller, J. J., ... & Steyerberg, E. W. (2025). Dynamics of gut microbiota after fecal microbiota transplantation in ulcerative colitis: success linked to control of prevotellaceae. Journal of Crohn's and Colitis, 19(2), jjae137.
13.Raich, S. S., Majzoub, M. E., Haifer, C., Paramsothy, S., Shamim, M. M. I., Borody, T. J., ... & Kaakoush, N. O. (2025). Bacterial taxonomic and functional changes following oral lyophilized donor fecal microbiota transplantation in patients with ulcerative colitis. Msystems, 10(10), e00991-25.
14.Raja, S. S., Costello, S. P., Rayner, C. K., Day, A., Portmann, L., Uylaki, W., ... & Bryant, R. V. (2025). Examining the role of fecal microbiota transplantation for inducing remission in resistant ulcerative proctitis and distal ulcerative colitis (ulcerative proctitis-fecal microbiota transplantation). Journal of Crohn's and Colitis, 19(10), jjaf169.
15.Rees, N. P., Shaheen, W., Quince, C., Tselepis, C., Horniblow, R. D., Sharma, N., ... & Quraishi, M. N. (2022). Systematic review of donor and recipient predictive biomarkers of response to faecal microbiota transplantation in patients with ulcerative colitis. EBioMedicine, 81.
16.Saleh, A., Parsa, S., Garza, M., Quigley, E. M., & Abraham, B. P. (2023). The role of fecal microbiota transplantation in the induction of remission in ulcerative colitis. Digestive Diseases, 41(4), 656-665.
17.Tikunov, A. Y., Fedorets, V. A., Shrainer, E. V., Morozov, V. V., Bystrova, V. I., & Tikunova, N. V. (2023). Intestinal microbiome changes and clinical outcomes of patients with ulcerative colitis after fecal microbiota transplantation. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 12(24), 7702.
18.Tkach, S., Dorofeyev, A., Kuzenko, I., Falalyeyeva, T., Tsyryuk, O., Kovalchuk, O., ... & Boccuto, L. (2023). Efficacy and safety of fecal microbiota transplantation via colonoscopy as add-on therapy in patients with mild-to-moderate ulcerative colitis: a randomized clinical trial. Frontiers in Medicine, 9, 1049849.
19.van Lingen, E., Nooij, S., Terveer, E. M., Crossette, E., Prince, A. L., Bhattarai, S. K., ... & Keller, J. J. (2024). Faecal microbiota transplantation engraftment after budesonide or placebo in patients with active ulcerative colitis using pre-selected donors: a randomized pilot study. Journal of Crohn's and Colitis, 18(9), 1381-1393.
20.Wang, L., Guo, G., Xu, Y., Li, L., Yang, B., Zhao, D., ... & Chen, Q. (2024). The effect of fecal microbiota transplantation on antibiotic-associated diarrhea and its impact on gut microbiota. BMC microbiology, 24(1), 160.
21.Wang, Z., Yang, L., & Sun, S. (2023). Effect of intestinal microbiota transplantation on intestinal flora and inflammatory factor levels in patients with ulcerative colitis. Infection and Drug Resistance, 1183-1191.
22.Wei, Z. J., Dong, H. B., Ren, Y. T., & Jiang, B. (2022). Efficacy and safety of fecal microbiota transplantation for the induction of remission in active ulcerative colitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Annals of Translational Medicine, 10(14), 802.
23.Wu, X., Li, P., Wang, W., Xu, J., Ai, R., Wen, Q., ... & Zhang, F. (2023). The underlying changes in serum metabolic profiles and efficacy prediction in patients with extensive ulcerative colitis undergoing fecal microbiota transplantation. Nutrients, 15(15), 3340.
24.Zhang, J., Guo, Y., & Duan, L. (2022). Features of gut microbiome associated with responses to fecal microbiota transplantation for inflammatory bowel disease: a systematic review. Frontiers in Medicine, 9, 773105.
Published
2026-08-29
How to Cite
Nandini, Prof. Ajit Sood, Dr. Prof. Dwij Raj Bhatta, Prof. Ayush Kumar, & Dr. Stella Ifeanyi Smith. (2026). GUT MICROBIOME CHANGES AND TREATMENT RESPONSE FOLLOWING FECAL MICROBIOTA TRANSPLANTATION IN ULCERATIVE COLITIS. IJRDO - JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE, 12(3), 126-139. https://doi.org/10.69980/bs.v12i3.6817
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Articles
Copyright (c) 2026 IJRDO - JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE
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