Published in

MDPI, Nutrients, 12(11), p. 2958, 2019

DOI: 10.3390/nu11122958

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Enteral Nutrition in Pediatric Patients Undergoing Hematopoietic SCT Promotes the Recovery of Gut Microbiome Homeostasis

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

Full text: Download

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Postprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Published version: archiving allowed
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is the first-line immunotherapy to treat several hematologic disorders, although it can be associated with many complications reducing the survival rate, such as acute graft-versus-host disease (aGvHD) and infections. Given the fundamental role of the gut microbiome (GM) for host health, it is not surprising that a suboptimal path of GM recovery following HSCT may compromise immune homeostasis and/or increase the risk of opportunistic infections, with an ultimate impact in terms of aGvHD onset. Traditionally, the first nutritional approach in post-HSCT patients is parenteral nutrition (PN), which is associated with several clinical adverse effects, supporting enteral nutrition (EN) as a preferential alternative. The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of EN vs. PN on the trajectory of compositional and functional GM recovery in pediatric patients undergoing HSCT. The GM structure and short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) production profiles were analyzed longitudinally in twenty pediatric patients receiving HSCT—of which, ten were fed post-transplant with EN and ten with total PN. According to our findings, we observed the prompt recovery of a structural and functional eubiotic GM layout post-HSCT only in EN subjects, thus possibly reducing the risk of systemic infections and GvHD onset.