Gut virome remodeling after fecal microbiota transplantation is associated with virus-bacteria co-variation and metabolic response in obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Viruses transferred during microbiota transplant predicted cholesterol response as accurately as bacteria, revealing an overlooked player in metabolic health after the procedure.
In an FMT RCT in obese adults with T2D, donor-derived viral engraftment occurred in 58.8-64.7% of FMT recipients vs 5.6% sham; post-FMT virome changes predicted LDL response with 84.8% accuracy (comparable to bacteriome 81.4%), implicating Caudoviricetes phages as metabolic mediators. This record was retained from the prior triage attempt for PubMed pipeline handoff.
What the study was
- Study design
- Randomized Controlled Trial (mechanistic virome sub-study)
- Category
- cardiovascular_metabolic
- Maturity
- Potentially Practice-Changing
- Journal
- Gut Microbes
Why it surfaced
First mechanistic RCT data linking gut virome remodeling to metabolic outcomes in FMT for obesity/T2D, with random-forest classification showing virome predicts metabolic response comparably to bacteriome; novel angle on gut microbiome-cardiometabolic axis with implications for optimizing FMT protocols.
A plain-language summary of published research — not medical advice. Talk to a clinician about your own care.