Fecal microbiota transplant overcomes resistance to anti–PD-1 therapy in melanoma patients
Diwakar Davar, Amiran Dzutsev, John A. McCulloch, Richard R. Rodrigues, Joë-Marc Chauvin, Robert M. Morrison, Richelle DeBlasio, Carmine Menna, Quanquan Ding, Ornella Pagliano, Bochra Zidi, Shuowen Zhang, Jonathan H. Badger, Marie Vétizou, Alicia M. Cole, Miriam R. Fernandes, Stephanie Prescott, Raquel Costa, Ascharya K. Balaji, Andrey Morgun, Ivan Vujkovic-Cvijin, Hong Wang, Amir A. Borhani, Marc Schwartz, Howard M. Dubner, S. Ernst, Amy Rose, Yana G. Najjar, Yasmine Belkaid, John M. Kirkwood, Giorgio Trinchieri, Hassane M. Zarour
Abstract
New fecal microbiota for cancer patients The composition of the gut microbiome influences the response of cancer patients to immunotherapies. Baruch et al. and Davar et al. report first-in-human clinical trials to test whether fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) can affect how metastatic melanoma patients respond to anti–PD-1 immunotherapy (see the Perspective by Woelk and Snyder). Both studies observed evidence of clinical benefit in a subset of treated patients. This included increased abundance of taxa previously shown to be associated with response to anti–PD-1, increased CD8 + T cell activation, and decreased frequency of interleukin-8–expressing myeloid cells, which are involved in immunosuppression. These studies provide proof-of-concept evidence for the ability of FMT to affect immunotherapy response in cancer patients. Science , this issue p. 602 , p. 595 ; see also p. 573