Washed Microbiota Transplantation Improved Behcet Disease And Sjogren Syndrome

Behcet disease (BD) and Sjogren syndrome (SS) are the prototypes of a group of chronic refractory autoinflammatory disease. The microbiota is implicated in the pathogenesis of BD and SS. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) has been used as a core therapy for treating dysbiosis-related diseases by remodeling gut microbiota. The improved methodology of FMT based on the automatic washing process and the related delivering consideration was coined as washed microbiota transplantation (WMT). Here we first reported a patient with BD and SS who underwent three WMTs for refractory diarrhea. Notable improvements in BD and SS accompanied with changed fecal and salivary microbiota were recorded at three months post WMT. Moreover, a roughly stable status was maintained in the follow-up period. As we were intrigued by the findings, we further explored how WMT exerted its therapeutic role in BD and SS. Our findings suggest that WMT may alleviate the symptoms by restoring the gut microbiota and salivary microbiota. Our study firstly provided the direct evidence of the crosstalk between the gut and salivary microbial communities in BD and SS. The therapeutic effect of WMT in BD and SS might make it a novel option for physicians to create individual treatment plans for them.