STOP-Colitis offers new hope for IBD patients

Birmingham based research may provide new hope for colitis sufferers.  

Around 60% of the patients in the new study, entitled STOP-Colitis, have responded positively to faecal transplantation treatment.

Faecal transplantation is the process of taking bacteria from a healthy donor’s stool and introducing it to a sick patient in order to replace the bad bacteria with good bacteria. This in turn encourages future growth of good bacteria to prevent the bug recurring.

The study, which began in 2017, is just one of many investigations in the U.K to focus on FMT as a form of treatment for patients with colitis, a form of irritable bowel disease (IBD).

It is estimated that around 300,000 people in the U.K suffer with irritable bowel disease, meaning that one in every 210 people suffer from a form of IBD across the country. 

It was first tested and proven effective on patients infected by the superbug clostridium difficile (c-diff), but the pilot has targeted specifically those suffering with the life-long disease, ulcerative colitis.

FMT is seen as a last resort for patients with colitis and is introduced after more conventional treatments and therapies have failed. 

The STOP-Colitis pilot, carried out primarily at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and University of Birmingham, involved 30 patients over the age of 16 with active disease. They remained under follow up for 12 weeks. 

 “We have seen response rates of around 60%” says Dr Naveen Sharma, co-investigator of the study alongside chief investigator, Professor Tariq Iqbal.

The aim of the pilot was to gather quantitative and qualitative data around the safety, efficacy and acceptability of the procedure.

“We are going to do a larger study of 230 patients to prove how effective the treatment is.”

“Patients will be followed up for 12 months, but the treatment will be given for the first eight weeks.” added Dr Sharma. 

As well as testing the efficacy of the treatment, researchers aim to create a more comfortable delivery of FMT for patients, for example using digestible capsules. 

The main trial is set to begin at the end of the year, with plans to expand the investigation to Glasgow Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Nottingham Queens Medical Centre, Royal Exeter Hospital and Newcastle Royal.

Dr Sharma says that the aims are to discover, “some of the mechanisms by which the treatment is effective, like which bugs are important.”

“What effect [FMT] has on the immune system of the patient, what chemical the bugs produce that may be helpful in healing the bowel, what dietary factors in stool donors may be important in causing a response in the recipient.” He added.