One way to prolong the lives of organ transplant recipients could be addressing poor gut microbial signatures that new research shows are associated with their long-term survival. Those with “unhealthy” gut microbial signature patterns experienced a higher risk of all-cause death, though most patterns were associated with infection and cancer. “Our results support emerging evidence showing that gut dysbiosis is associated with long-term survival, indicating that gut microbiome targeting therapies might improve patient outcomes, although causal links should be identified first,” the study concluded.
Authors noted that the findings also have implications beyond the organ transplant community. Studies have shown microbial imbalances, called dysbiosis, are associated with diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, autism, and many others. This study is among few that have compared gut microbiome data to long-term survival.
Researchers examined the microbial profiles of 1,337 organ transplant recipients (766 kidney, 334 liver, 170 lung, and 67 heart) and compared them with 8,208 gut microbiome profiles from among the same northern Netherlands geographical area. Nearly 60 percent of the transplant recipients were men, and their average age was 57 with an average elapsed time of 7.5 years from their transplants.
The study followed the subjects for 6.5 years, during which time 162 organ recipients died. The top causes of death were infection, cardiovascular diseas.
