Project description:We performed a phase I clinical trial to assess the safety and feasibility of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) and re-induction of anti-PD-1 immunotherapy in patients with anti-PD-1-refractory metastatic melanoma. FMT donors were two metastatic melanoma patients who achieved a durable complete response. FMT recipient patients were metastatic melanoma patients who failed at least one anti-PD-1 line of treatment. Each recipient patient received FMT implants from only one of the two donors. FMT was conducted by both colonoscopy and oral ingestion of stool capsules, followed by anti-PD-1 re-treatment (Nivolumab, BMS). Recipient patients underwent pre- and post-treatment stool sampling, tissue biopsy of both gut and tumor, and total body imaging. Clinical responses were observed in three patients, including two partial responses and one complete response. Notably, treatment with FMT was associated with favorable changes in immune cell infiltrates and gene expression profiles in both the gut lamina propria and the tumor microenvironment.
Project description:This study aimed to analyze changes in gut microbiota composition in mice after transplantation of fecal microbiota (FMT, N = 6) from the feces of NSCLC patients by analyzing fecal content using 16S rRNA sequencing, 10 days after transplantation. Specific-pathogen-free (SPF) mice were used for each experiments (N=4) as controls.
Project description:Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disease in middle-aged and elderly people. The disorder of gut microbiota is involved in the pathophysiological process of various neurological diseases, and many studies have confirmed that gut microbiota is involved in the progression of PD. As one of the most effective methods to reconstruct gut microbiota, fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) has been considered as an important treatment for PD. However, the mechanism of FMT treatment for PD is still lacking, which requires further exploration and can facilitate the application of FMT. As a model organism, Drosophila is highly conserved with mammalian system in maintaining intestinal homeostasis. In this study, there were significant differences in the gut microbiota of conventional Drosophila colonized from PD patients compared to those transplanted from normal controls. And we constructed rotenone-induced PD model in Drosophila followed by FMT in different groups, and investigated the impact of gut microbiome on transcriptome of the PD host. Microbial analysis by 16S rDNA sequencing showed that gut microbiota could affect bacterial structure of PD, which was confirmed by bacterial colonization results. In addition, transcriptome data suggested that gut microbiota can influence gene expression pattern of PD. Further experimental validations confirmed that lysosome and neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction are the most significantly influenced functional pathways by PD-derived gut microbiota. In summary, our data reveals the influence of PD-derived gut microbiota on host transcriptome and helps better understanding the interaction between gut microbiota and PD through gut-brain axis. The present study will facilitate the understanding of the mechanism underlying PD treatment with FMT in clinical practice.
Project description:This phase II trial studies the effect of fecal microbiota transplant and re-introduction of anti-PD-1 therapy (pembrolizumab or nivolumab) in treating anti-PD-1 non-responders with colorectal cancer that has spread to other places in the body (metastatic). Fecal microbiota transplants contain the normal bacteria and viruses found in fecal (stool) material. Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies, such as pembrolizumab and nivolumab, may help the body’s immune system attack the cancer, and may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Giving pembrolizumab or nivolumab with fecal microbiota transplants may help to control the disease.
Project description:Analysis of 3 subsets of primary human CD4+ T cells (naive, CM, EM) stimulated with anti-CD3, anti-CD28 and PD-L1/PD-L2 for 18 hours. we show that naive, EM, and CM T cell subsets had distinct gene expression profiles following PD-1 ligation.
Project description:The therapeutic benefits of L–3,4–dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA) in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients severely diminishes with the onset of L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia (LID), a debilitating motor side effect. LID is mainly due to altered dopaminergic signaling in the striatum, a brain region that controls motor and cognitive functions. However, the molecular mechanisms that promote LID remain unclear. Here, we have reported that increased striatal RasGRP1 (also known as CalDAG-GEF-II) is instrumentally linked to the development of LID in a 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesioned mouse model of PD. L-DOPA treatment rapidly upregulated RasGRP1 in the dopamine-1 receptor positive neurons in the dorsal striatum. RasGRP1 deleted mice (RasGRP1–/–) had drastically diminished LID, and RasGRP1–/– mice did not interfere with the therapeutic benefits of L-DOPA. In terms of its mechanism, RasGRP1 mediated L-DOPA-induced extracellular regulated kinase (ERK), the mammalian target of rapamycin kinase (mTOR) and the cAMP/PKA pathway. RasGRP1 bind directly with and acts 2 as a guanine nucleotide exchange (GEF) for Ras-homolog-enriched in the brain (Rheb), a potent activator of mTOR, both in vitro and in the intact striatum. High-resolution tandem mass tag mass spectrometry analysis of striatal tissue revealed significant targets, such as phosphodiesterase 10a (Pde10a), Pde2a, catechol-o-methyltransferase (Comt), and glutamate decarboxylase 1 and 2 (Gad1 and Gad2), as downstream regulators of RasGRP1 that are linked to LID vulnerability. Moreover, we found that RASGRP1 protein is also upregulated predominantly in the striatum of MPTP-lesioned macaque treated with L-DOPA, emphasizing the translational potential of this protein. Collectively, the findings of this study demonstrated that RasGRP1 is a major regulator of LID in the dorsal striatum. Pharmacological or gene-depletion strategies targeting RasGRP1 may offer novel therapeutic opportunities for preventing LID in PD patients.
Project description:Analysis of breast cancer survivors' gut microbiota after lifestyle intervention, during the COVID-19 lockdown, by 16S sequencing of fecal samples.