Microbiota-Based Therapeutics as New Standard-of-Care Treatment for Recurrent Infection.

Background: (. ) is a spore-forming bacterial species that ubiquitously exists in the environment. Colonization by is highly prevalent in infants, while fewer than 5% of adults are asymptomatic carriers.

[Fecal microbiota transplantation: indications, risks and opportunities].

Fecal microbiome transfer (FMT) involving the transfer of the microbiome of healthy stool donors to patients with various diseases has been performed in Germany in clinical studies and individual treatment attempts. There is no doubt that FMT is an effective therapeutic principle for recurrent Clostridium difficile infection and ulcerative colitis. From a medico-legal point of view, it should be stressed that, in Germany, the microbiome to be transferred is regarded as a drug, the manufacture of which is subject to the Medicines Act and the risk information from the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices.

Transfer of FRozen Encapsulated multi-donor Stool filtrate for active ulcerative Colitis (FRESCO): study protocol for a prospective, multicenter, double-blind, randomized, controlled trial.

Background: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease with significant morbidity and mortality. Although the precise cause remains unknown, disturbances in the intestinal microbial community have been linked to its pathogenesis. Randomized controlled trials in UC and relapsing Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) have established fecal microbiota (FM) transfer (FMT) as an effective therapy.

Fecal Microbiota Transfer.

Background: Fecal microbiota transfer (FMT) is increasingly being used in Ger- many, as in other countries, for the treatment of recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (rCDI). FMT is now being performed both for research and in individual patients outside of clinical trials. No compulsory standards have been established to date for donor screening or for the method of fecal transfer.

Peritoneal Level of CD206 Associates With Mortality and an Inflammatory Macrophage Phenotype in Patients With Decompensated Cirrhosis and Spontaneous Bacterial Peritonitis.

Background & Aims: Peritoneal macrophages (PMs) regulate inflammation and control bacterial infections in patients with decompensated cirrhosis. We aimed to characterize PMs and associate their activation with outcomes of patients with spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP).

Methods: We isolated PMs from ascites samples of 66 patients with decompensated cirrhosis (19 with SBP) and analyzed them by flow cytometry, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, functional analysis, and RNA microarrays.

[Ulcerative colitis: Does the modulation of gut microbiota induce long-lasting remission?].

Although the pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis (UC) remains elusive, substantial progress in understanding its development and progression has been achieved in the past decades, and novel effective treatment strategies have been developed. Changes in gut microbiota, environmental triggers, deregulation of immunological responses, and genetic predisposition have been identified as pathogenic key factors. There are several lines of clinical observations, which support a close connection of altered gut microbiota with the development and course of UC.

High-intensity UV laser ChIP-seq for the study of protein-DNA interactions in living cells.

Genome-wide mapping of transcription factor binding is generally performed by chemical protein-DNA crosslinking, followed by chromatin immunoprecipitation and deep sequencing (ChIP-seq). Here we present the ChIP-seq technique based on photochemical crosslinking of protein-DNA interactions by high-intensity ultraviolet (UV) laser irradiation in living mammalian cells (UV-ChIP-seq). UV laser irradiation induces an efficient and instant formation of covalent "zero-length" crosslinks exclusively between nucleic acids and proteins that are in immediate contact, thus resulting in a "snapshot" of direct protein-DNA interactions in their natural environment.

[Microbiota and Cancer: a "pas de deux"?].

Malignant diseases pose an enormous challenge to today's health care system. Advanced pathophysiological understanding of gastrointestinal microbiota and a viable, causal relation to the development of malignant tumors is increasingly becoming the focus of medical research. The following article presents key pathomechanisms of reciprocal interaction between microbiota and malignancy and illustrates the associated role of diet.