Faecal Microbiota Transplant in Parkinson's Disease: Pilot Study to Establish Safety & Tolerability

There is growing evidence that differences exist in the gut microbiota of patients with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) compared with health controls, and so treatment with Faecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT) may provide a novel approach towards altering disease progression and response to treatment. We performed a pilot study looking at the safety and tolerability of FMT, its effect on the microbiome, and improvement of symptoms in PD. This was an open label study wherein 12 patients with mild to moderate PD were administered FMT via enema for 6 months. The primary objectives were safety and tolerability of therapy as well as changes in motor and non-motor symptoms of PD. FMT administered as liquid enema was safe and well tolerated, associated with mild and self-resolving gastrointestinal symptoms. We found no significant change in motor outcomes post FMT however showed a trend towards improvement in daily OFF time after 2 months of treatment. We found no significant improvement in non-motor symptoms of PD after 6-months of FMT, however showed improvement in quality of life and non-motor symptom scores at 2 months as well as a trend towards improvement in parts 1 and 2 of the MDS-UPDRS. All improvements regressed back to baseline after 6 months of treatment. The administration of FMT over an extended 6-month period for the treatment of mild to moderate PD is safe and tolerable. FMT was associated with a transient reduction in daily motor OFF time as well as multiple self-reported non-motor symptoms.