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NCT Number: NCT06192693

Fecal Microbiota Transfer to Improve Diabetes Control Post-bariatric Surgery

Obesity progresses worldwide with few effective treatments leading to a burst in Bariatric surgery (BS). France is the 3rd country in BS numbers yearly.

BS improves diabetes (T2D) and even induces diabetes remission (DR) in 60% of patients. Thus, an expert consensus recommended extending BS to T2D with BMI≥30kg/m² with uncontrolled glycaemia, anticipating even more BS. Glycaemic control further deteriorates in the longer term in non DR (NDR) patients and relapse occurs in some DR patients, urging the need to add new therapy to control glycaemia and provide new recommendations in the future.

Obesity and T2D are characterized by gut microbiota dysbiosis with low to very low microbial gene richness (MGR). About 75% of patients' candidates for BS are in the low MGR category. Whereas BS modifies microbiota composition and increases MGR 1-year post-BS, we demonstrated that only a few patients reach high MGR. Dysbiosis can be improved by several means; fibre enriched diet, prebiotics, probiotics also improve metabolic alterations and insulin resistance in mice. However, human studies observed rather divergent results: some studies display a beneficial effect in improving insulin-resistance but to a small extent while others do not display any significant effects at all. Therefore, other innovative strategies should be tested in humans. For example, Faecal microbiota transfer (FMT) ameliorates insulin sensitivity and MGR in metabolic syndrome patients, but was never tested in T2D nor post-BS. Whether adding such an innovative therapy to further modify gut microbiota post-BS can help improve glucose control should be tested.

FMT showed health benefits in several diseases (clostridium difficile (CD) and Crohn's). Until recently, FMT was performed using invasive tool (endoscopy or colonoscopy) thus with potential secondary effects, or enema yet maybe less effective. Recent technologic developments enabled to generate oral capsulized FMT (filled with fecal material) performing as well as invasive FMT for CD with good tolerance. This strategy has never been tested in obesity or T2D, whereas in metabolic syndrome patients (before T2D occurrence) and less severe dysbiosis, a proof-of-concept study showed that endoscopic FMT may improve insulin sensitivity after 6 weeks. Yet these studies have included a small number of patients, non T2D and did not test oral FMT. We here hypothesize that an intervention improving dysbiosis after 1-year post-BS might help improve/maintain diabetes control in the long-term. We will examine the effects of FMT (from lean healthy donors) vs. placebo transfer in dietary-controlled non-DR patients after 1-year post-BS, on Hba1c reduction evaluated 6 months' post-intervention

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Key information

Conditions

Bariatric Surgery Diabetes Mellitus Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 Endocrine System Diseases Glucose Metabolism Disorders Metabolic Diseases Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases Type 2 Diabetes

Age range

18 year–65 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Phase 3

Primary location

Groupe hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière

Paris, 75013, France

Location status: Recruiting

Location contact

Judith Aron-Wisnewsky, Pr

CONTACT

[email protected]

+33 1 42 17 75 41

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

patients :

  • Adult patients from 18-65 years old
  • T2D patients any severity of initial T2D disease before BS
  • Who underwent Bariatric surgery (BS) 1 to 5 years before (Roux-en-Y gastric bypass or sleeve, patients with pre-BS BMI≥35kg/m²)
  • Non-Diabetic remission (NDR) patients 1-year post-BS, defined as Hba1c>6.5% and/or fasting glycaemia>6.9mmol/l and/or receiving anti-diabetic drugs for at least 2 months. We will rather select patients with uncontrolled diabetes with Hba1c>7% and willing to receive proton pump inhibitor (PPI)
  • Patient compliant to 1rd year follow-up post-BS (who came to at least 2 among the three routine care follow-up visits during the first year (i.e. 3, 6 and 12M)
  • Signature of the informed consent
  • Affiliated to a social security regime (except AME)

Exclusion criteria

patients :

  • Type 1 diabetes
  • Patients receiving antibiotics (ATB) at the selection time or within the 3 previous months (if agreeing to participate to the study, the patients will be proposed randomization 3 months after stopping ATB)
  • Immunosuppressive therapy
  • Laxative treatments
  • DR since BS (nor relapse patients detailed further in the protocol)
  • Patients already recruited in another interventional studies study where a drug is being tested
  • Pregnant or breastfeeding women
  • Patient with contemporary disease such as intestine disease
  • Patient under guardianship or curatorship
  • Patient deprived of their liberty by a judicial or administrative decision

Inclusion criteria

donors:

  • Age ≥ 18 years and < 50 years
  • Lean individuals (18<BMI<25kg/m²)
  • Euglycemic: fasting glycemia <6mmol/l; Hba1c <5.9%
  • Healthy: no current drug prescription (except contraception or pain killers other than AINS)
  • Regular bowel movement in the morning defined as 1 stool/day at least
  • Signature of the informed consent
  • Subject with health insurance (except AME)

Exclusion criteria

donors:

  • Familial history of obesity or diabetes and personal history of overweight/obesity
  • Infectious risk
  • Gastrointestinal disease
  • Exclusion criteria according screening test to National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) recommendations
  • Pregnancy or breastfeeding women
  • Subject under guardianship or curatorship
  • Subject deprived of their liberty by a judicial or administrative decision

Treatment and study plan

Capsulized fecal microbiota transfer containing the healthy feces + stool dilution solution

Drug

1 FMT=30 capsulized FMT given during 2 days in several intakes per day (3 intakes per day).

FMT will be performed at baseline after randomization. Further treatment(s) will be given again at 6 and 12 weeks if we do not observe a change of Hba1c of at least -0.15% in patients who have Hba1c at inclusion <7%; of at least -0.4% in patients who have Hba1c at inclusion ≤8% and of at least -0.7% in patients who have Hba1c at inclusion >8%.

Capsulized placebo transfer containing dilution solution

Drug

1 Placebo of FMT=30 capsulized given during 2 days in several intakes per day (3 intakes per day).

Placebo of FMT will be performed at baseline after randomization. Further treatment(s) will be given again at 6 and 12 weeks if we do not observe a change of Hba1c of at least -0.15% in patients who have Hba1c at inclusion <7%; of at least -0.4% in patients who have Hba1c at inclusion ≤8% and of at least -0.7% in patients who have Hba1c at inclusion >8%.

Primary outcomes

  1. Hba1c change from baseline to 6 months post randomization

    Time frame: At baseline and at 6 months after randomization

Secondary outcomes

  1. Evolution of Hba1c from baseline to 2 years post-randomization

    Time frame: At baseline and at 6 weeks, 12 weeks, 18 weeks, 24 weeks, 1 year and 2 years post randomization

  2. Evolution of C-peptide from baseline to 2 years post-randomization

    Time frame: At baseline and at 6 weeks, 12 weeks, 18 weeks, 24 weeks, 1 year and 2 years post randomization

  3. Evolution of insulin secretion from baseline to 24 weeks using the HOMA-B calculator

    Time frame: At baseline and at 24 weeks post-randomization

    Equal to 20 x fasting insulin (μIU/ml)/ fasting glucose (mmol/ml) - 3.5

  4. Evolution of insulin resistance from baseline to 24 weeks

    Time frame: At baseline and at 24 weeks post-randomization

    we will use the HOMA-IR (= fasting insulin (μIU/ml) × fasting glucose (mmol/ml)/ 22.5) and Disse index (=Disse 12*((2.5*(HDL-total cholesterol)-NEFA)-insulin)) which are two complementary markers to evaluate insulin resistance using different parameters

  5. Glycaemia profile (using glycemic holter) changes from baseline to 6 weeks and 24 weeks

    Time frame: At baseline and at 6 weeks and 24 weeks post-randomization

    Glycemic holter will be placed on the patient for 3 days at baseline, 6 weeks and 6 months and will collect glycemic curve excursions that will further be compared at the different visits (baseline, 6 and 24 weeks). We will analyse the % and duration of hyperglycemia and hypoglycaemia and the % of time and duration at glycemic target at the different visits (baseline, 6 and 24 weeks)

  6. Number of anti-diabetic (antiT2D) drugs

    Time frame: At baseline and at 1 and 2 years post-randomization

    The number of concomitant anti-diabetic drugs will be analysed

  7. Type of antiT2D drugs

    Time frame: At baseline and at 1 and 2 years post-randomization

    The type of anti-diabetic drugs will be analysed

  8. Number of patients reaching Diabetic Remission (DR)

    Time frame: At baseline and at 24 weeks, 1 and 2 years post-randomization

  9. Proportion of patient needing a "safety" glucose lowering treatment to control Hba1c despite FMTs (or placebo)

    Time frame: From baseline to 2 years post-randomization

  10. Evaluate FMT safety

    Time frame: From baseline to 2 years post-randomization

    Evaluate safety and AE by a systematic screening regarding fever, bloating, diarrhoea, regurgitation at each visit

  11. Evaluate quality of life

    Time frame: At baseline and at 6 weeks, 12 weeks, 18 weeks, 24 weeks, 1 year and 2 years post randomization

    Evaluate changes in quality of life after capsulized FMT (baseline vs. after FMT and between treatment groups using SF36 questionnaire)

Study contacts

Contact information is provided by the study sponsor or research team.

Judith Aron-Wisnewsky, Pr

CONTACT

[email protected]

+33 1 42 17 75 41

Karine Clement, Pr

CONTACT

[email protected]

+33 1 42 17 79 28

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris

Other

Registry information

Acronym: DRIFTER

Important dates

Study start
2024
Primary completion
2029
Study completion
2029
First posted
Jan 5, 2024
Registry last updated
Feb 17, 2025

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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