Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Storing human waste sounds disgusting? Not for some researchers, who say this activity is important to address various health problems through donors.
For human patients, the faecal transplantation technique i.e. transferring the microbiome of human feces from a healthy individual to another is currently widely used to treat the condition. Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, many experts state that similar methods can be used for a variety of other ailments.
Not only that, the development of an autologous stool transplantation (FMT) system, ie transplants from the same donor and recipient, can overcome the problem that has been encountered with this method, namely the incompatibility between donor and recipient.
It should be noted, however, that the feces collected were from when the patient was young and healthy. Then, the microbiome is stored in a refrigerated facility for future use if the patient needs a transplant.
“Conceptually, the idea of a stool bank for autologous FMT is similar to when parents store their baby’s umbilical cord blood for possible future use,” said Harvard University systems biologist Yang-Yu Liu. Science Alert, Friday (1/7/2022). “However there is greater potential for fecal storage, and we anticipate a much higher likelihood of using stool samples from umbilical cord blood.”
Stool storage centers are now available, the first being the non-profit Open Biome. It is located in Somerville, Massachusetts.
Since then, a number of similar facilities have been opened. Science Alert noted although most seem to usually save for heterologous FMT models, rather than autologous ones.
“In principle the same host screening and sample collection procedures could be used for the purpose of rejuvenating the microbiome with autologous FMT,” said a study by Yang-Yu Liu and co-authors.
The research team revealed that there was no need to open new sites for autologous FMT. However, the existing ones can be reused to rejuvenate the autologous FMT.
Co-author and epidemiologist Scott T. Weiss says autologous FMT has the potential to treat autoimmune diseases, heart disease and even aging.
“Autologous FMT has the potential to treat autoimmune diseases such as asthma, multiple sclerosiscolitis, diabetes, obesity, and heart disease and aging,” says Weiss.
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