Virome drift in ulcerative colitis patients: faecal microbiota transplantation results in minimal phage engraftment dominated by microviruses.

ABSTRACT: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory bowel disease characterized by recurrent colonic inflammation. Standard treatments focus on controlling inflammation but remain ineffective for one-third of patients. This underscores the need for alternative approaches, such as fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), which transfers healthy donor microbiota to patients. The role of viruses in this process, however, remains underexplored. To address this, we analyzed the gut virome using metagenomic sequencing of enriched viral particles from 320 longitudinal fecal samples of 44 patients enrolled in the RESTORE-UC FMT trial. Patients were treated with FMTs from healthy donors (allogenic, treatment) or themselves (autologous, control). We found that colonic inflammation, both its presence and locat

SUBMITTER: Jansen D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12087655 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature