Could fecal transplants improve melanoma treatment?
Share on Pinterest Fecal transplants could be used in conjunction with current cancer treatments to boost results. /Getty Images THIERRY ZOCCOLAN/Getty Images Combining fecal transplants with immune checkpoint inhibitors such as pembrolizumab or nivolumab showed the procedure was safe in people with advanced melanoma, according to a phase 1 clinical trial . Of the study participants, 65% responded positively to immunotherapy treatment. Positive responders also showed an increase in beneficial bacteria and a decrease in harmful bacteria in their gut microbiome following the fecal transplant. The researchers plan to conduct larger phase 2 trials and explore using fecal transplants in hard-to-treat cancers like pancreatic cancer. In recent years, a type of treatment called immunotherapy has been helping many people with cancer by harnessing their immune systems to recognize and destroy cancer cells. Some drugs used in immunotherapy, like pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and nivolumab (Opdivo), wo...