The future of cancer treatment may involve just a single dose of donated poop. A pair of small trials this week found that faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) — thankfully delivered via a pill — could give other cancer treatments a much-needed boost.

Canadian scientists conducted two tests, both of which were published on Wednesday in Nature Medicine. In one TRIALS in people with advanced kidney cancer, FMT appears to reduce the side effects of immunotherapy; on OTHERSit has been reported to improve the actual outcome of people with lung cancer or melanoma given immunotherapy. The findings suggest that FMT could be a promising addition to an important approach for the treatment of late-stage cancers, the researchers said. The international study included scientists from Italy, the United States, and France.

Poop in pill form

The gut microbiome—the community of bacteria that lives along our digestive tract—plays an important part in our health. And many conditions are linked to a dysfunctional microbiome. FMT reconstructs a person’s microbiome by using the person’s healthy bacteria as a template.

FMT is very effective in treating relapse C. difficult infections. Unfortunately, it has proven more difficult to find other consistent applications for it. Another limiting factor for some people is that treatment usually has to be given through a colonoscopy or enema. But scientists at the Lawson Research Institute, part of St. Joseph’s Health Care London in Ontario, is working to develop customized FMT pills that can be taken orally. Both trials used these pills.

In a Phase I trial led by researchers at Lawson and the London Health Sciences Center Research Institute (LHSCRI), FMT was administered to 20 patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Patients all take immunotherapy drugs, treatments that boost the immune system’s natural defenses against cancer, before their FMT.

Compared to standard treatment, participants reported fewer immunotherapy-related side effects, such as rash, nausea, and diarrhea. About 50% of people also show a response to treatment. That’s a higher than average rate for these drugs, even though the study wasn’t originally intended to assess effectiveness.

Researchers at the Montreal University Hospital Center research center conducted a second, Phase II, study. People with advanced lung cancer or melanoma given FMT and immunotherapy experienced a response rate of 75% to 80% — higher than the average 39% to 45% rate seen with these treatments, the researchers said.

Early but promising

The studies are still small in size, so their findings should be viewed with caution. But they certainly make the case for larger, more extensive trials to further test FMT as a cancer treatment benefit, and some trials are already underway. continues.

“The use of FMT to reduce drug toxicity and improve the quality of life of patients while possibly improving their clinical response to cancer treatment is huge, and it has not been done in the treatment of kidney cancer before,” said Michael Silverman, an author of both studies and head of the infectious diseases program at St. Joseph’s Health Care London in Ontario, in a statement from LHSCRI.

Even in pill form, donated poop can be a difficult treatment for some people to stomach. But it can go a long way in saving the lives of people who otherwise would not have responded to routine care in the future.