New research has found that diabetes could be cured using healthy people’s poop. Professor Amir Zarrinpar, of the University of California–San Diego’s research show promsing resuts.
Scientists have long tried to introduce genetically engineered bacteria into the gut to treat diseases.
Experiments found microscopic organisms transplanted into mice stopped the progression of diabetes—and the technique could end the need for painful insulin injections for human patients in the future.
It involves engineering E.coli bacteria from stool samples, which also has the potential to treat a range of gut conditions— from obesity to irritable bowel syndrome.
Residing within the human gut are trillions of bacteria and other microorganisms that can impact a variety of chronic human ailments, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, atherosclerosis, and cancer.
Even in diseases that don’t involve the microbiome, gut microflora provide an important point of access that allows modification of many physiological systems—and their physical symptoms.
Professor Amir Zarrinpar, of the University of California–San Diego, collected E. coli from both human and mice gut microbiomes—and added a protein called BSH (bile salt hydrolase). It made them more robust, extending survival in the hostile gut environment long enough to treat disease.
After a single treatment in mice, the E. coli were found throughout the entire gut, with activity retained for the entire lifetime of the host. It was able to positively influence diabetes progression in the rodents.
It is a significant improvement over similar treatments with non-native laboratory strains of engineered bacteria, where more than one treatment is often required. And they do not stay in the host’s gut for nearly as long as, or as consistently as, the native E. coli method identified by Prof. Zarrinpar and colleagues.
In addition to successfully influencing diabetes in mice, the group was also able to make a similar modification to E. coli extracted from human gut. Zarrinpar described the results as “substantial,” but there is more work to be done.
The group is planning on using this technology to find ways to treat more diseases.
“This technology is something that can potentially open up the application of the microbiome therapy to influence so many different chronic and genetic diseases.”
https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674%2822%2900843-1