Scientists at Technische Universität München (TUM), together with colleagues from Frankfurt, Würzburg and Göttingen, have now developed a method which could offer patients conservative protection against such
infections after a transplant.
«Promising T cell therapy to protect from
infections after transplant.»
Currently,
infections after transplant are common and may be severe, causing death in a substantial number of people.
«Overall survival for patients with HIV
infection after transplant is comparable to that seen in people who were not HIV - infected,» said lead author Joseph Alvarnas, MD, associate clinical professor in the department of hematology and director of value - based analytics at the City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, CA.
Not exact matches
However,
after receiving a fecal microbiota
transplant (FMT) to treat the
infection, the same subjects showed universal gut microbial dynamics.
After two months of stable tolerance, the researchers triggered rejection via
infection with Listeria bacteria, which caused the
transplant to fail.
Graduate students Carolyn Edelstein and Mark B. Smith got the idea for OpenBiome
after a friend had trouble getting a fecal
transplant to treat an
infection with Clostridium difficile.
After infection, some healthy people experience a month or more of flu - like symptoms, but the disease can cause seizures and potentially fatal encephalitis in the immunocompromised, including patients receiving
transplants, those with HIV / AIDS, cancer patients, the elderly, and young children.
Clinicians have historically been hesitant to treat HIV patients with stem cell
transplant due to concerns that their immune systems would not effectively recover
after intensive chemotherapy or that the procedure would cause excessive toxicities or
infections post-
transplant.
After leaving the hospital, patients are expected to return to the Penn
Transplant Institute for ongoing therapy and medical care and are monitored for any signs of
infection, rejection or medication side effects.
Scientists are excited by recent success with fecal microbiota
transplants (FMT), transfer of healthy fecal matter into ailing patients, notably those with clostridium difficile (C. diff), a bacterial
infection acquired
after antibiotics, often in hospitals, that kills more than 15,000 people a year.
Less than two weeks
after the
transplant, the recipient, Lindsey McFarland, acquired an
infection and the
transplant had to be removed.
It is also used
after bone marrow
transplants and bowel surgery to improve recovery, prevent
infection, and increase well - being.
The New England Journal of Medicine recently reported that Dutch researchers performed a randomized trial, in which 13 out of 16 patients with C. dificile colitis
infection of the colon improved
after the fecal
transplant.