Microbiome as a potential key to better treatment: Clinical study on new therapy for Crohn's disease
This study tests whether combining exclusive enteral nutrition with a follow-up fecal microbiome transfer can create a longer-lasting, less inflammatory gut microbiome — which could help maintain remission in Crohn’s disease without immediate changes to medication.
If successful, it could offer a non-drug strategy to extend the benefits of an established dietary therapy.
Patients with Crohn’s disease (including adolescents and young adults), caregivers considering dietary therapy, gastroenterologists and IBD clinicians, and researchers studying the microbiome and microbiome-based therapies.
What To Know
Researchers at TUM and LMU report that exclusive enteral nutrition (EEN) changes the gut microbiome in ways that reduce inflammation in models, and they are launching a clinical trial (EEN‑RICH) combining EEN followed by fecal microbiome transfer (FMT) in people with Crohn’s disease.
The trial will give screened donor-derived fecal microbiome capsules after a period of formula-only diet to see if a “microbiome reboot” can prolong remission.
The study builds on lab and mouse experiments showing that formula-adapted microbiomes prevent inflammation, and the team will test safety, feasibility, and whether FMT after EEN can stabilize or delay disease recurrence in humans.
Contact details and enrollment info are provided for the EEN‑RICH study; the press release links to the underlying Cell Host & Microbe paper describing the mechanistic work.
Findings described include lab and mouse model data; the clinical trial is ongoing to evaluate safety, feasibility, and clinical effect in humans. Press release and trial recruitment details do not replace peer-reviewed clinical results; no treatment recommendations are made. The linked journal paper (Cell Host & Microbe) presents the mechanistic preclinical work.
