Pediatric patients receiving donor stem cell transplantion with healthier pretransplant gut microbiota diversity show improved rates of survival and a lower risk of developing acute graft versus host disease (GvHD), similar to the patterns reported in adults.
"To the best of our knowledge, we present the first evidence of an association between pretransplantation lower gut microbiota diversity and poorer outcome in children undergoing allo-HSCT," the authors report, in research published in the journal Blood. "Our findings underscore the importance of pre-transplant gut microbiota diversity and compositional structure in influencing allo-HSCT-related clinical outcomes in the pediatric setting."
While allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) can be potentially curative of hematologic malignancies, the stem cell transplantation process can wreak havoc on gut microbiota, because of factors including the conditioning regimen, antibiotic exposure, and dietary changes.
Specifically, the process can cause a substantial decrease in necessary alpha diversity and a potential expansion of possibly pathogenic bacteria.
While poor gut microbiota diversity has been linked to higher mortality in adult patients receiving allo-HSCT, research on the effects in pediatric patients is lacking.
"The gut microbiota of children differs from adults' one, and this accounts for the need for specific pediatric studies on the gut microbiota-to–allo-HSCT relationship," the authors write.
