Metataxonomic and metabolic impact of fecal microbiota transplantation from patients with pancreatic cancer into germ-free mice: a pilot study

This pilot study evaluated the link between gut microbiota, metabolic parameters and inflammatory/immune parameters, through the fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) of pancreatic cancer (PC) patients into germ-free mice. We transplanted feces from five PC patients and five age- and gender-matched healthy volunteers, into two germ-free mice each. Fecal bacterial taxonomic profile by 16S rRNA gene sequencing was assessed on days 5, 10, 15 and 30 after FMT.Both groups of mice had similar BW gain, but recipients of feces from PC patients had lower visceral fat at sacrifice. The other parameters did not differ between groups. Samples from PC patients clustered apart from those of healthy volunteers and the same pattern was observed in mice humanized by FMT. These changes correlated with an increased relative abundance of different Clostridium species and Phascolarctobacterium faecium, and a lower proportion of Alistipes obesi. In PC patients, fecal microbiota was enriched in Enterobacteriaceae and Streptococcus. The resemblance between the microbiota of transplanted mice and their corresponding human donors was partial, but some differences between PC and control samples were common to humans and mice.