Beneficial microorganisms hold promise for the treatment of numerous gastrointestinal diseases. The transfer of whole microbiota via fecal transplantation has already been shown to ameliorate the severity of diseases such as Clostridium difficile infection, inflammatory bowel disease, and others. However, the exact mechanisms of fecal microbiota transplant efficacy and the particular strains conferring this benefit are still unclear. Rationally designed combinations of microbial preparations may enable more efficient and effective treatment approaches tailored to particular diseases. Here we use an infectious disease, C. difficile infection, and an inflammatory disorder, the inflammatory bowel disease ulcerative colitis, as examples to facilitate the discussion of how microbial therapy might be rationally designed for specific gastrointestinal diseases. Fecal microbiota transplantation has already shown some efficacy in the treatment of both these disorders; detailed comparisons of studies evaluating commensal and probiotic organisms in the context of these disparate gastrointestinal diseases may shed light on potential protective mechanisms and elucidate how future microbial therapies can be tailored to particular diseases.

中文翻译：

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粪便微生物群移植和益生菌研究为组合微生物疗法的合理设计提供了深刻的见识。

有益微生物有望用于治疗多种胃肠道疾病。已经证明，通过粪便移植转移整个微生物群可以减轻诸如艰难梭菌感染，肠炎性疾病等疾病的严重程度。但是，粪便微生物群移植功效的确切机制以及赋予这种益处的特定菌株仍不清楚。合理设计的微生物制剂组合可以实现针对特定疾病的更有效的治疗方法。在这里，我们使用传染病，艰难梭菌感染和炎性疾病，即炎性肠病溃疡性结肠炎，作为示例，以帮助讨论如何针对特定的胃肠道疾病合理设计微生物治疗。粪便菌群移植已经显示出对这两种疾病的治疗效果。在这些不同的胃肠疾病的背景下评估共生和益生菌生物的研究的详细比较可以揭示潜在的保护机制，并阐明如何针对特定疾病定制未来的微生物疗法。