ArticlePLoS pathogens2012
Targeted restoration of the intestinal microbiota with a simple, defined bacteriotherapy resolves relapsing Clostridium difficile disease in mice.
Article in PLoS pathogens, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 322 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
322 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 538 citations in OpenAlex.
- Microbial dysbiosis in systemic lupus erythematosus: a scientometric study.Frontiers in microbiology · 2024Pooled it
- 15-strain live biotherapeutic product or same donor fecal microbiota transplant for recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection: a randomized phase 1b trial.Nature medicine · 2026Trial
- Trial
- Trial
- Immunotherapy restores therapeutic efficacy of fecal microbiome transplants to treatbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Review
- Microbiota-driven mechanisms in multisystem diseases: integrative evidence across cardiovascular, metabolic, neurological and autoimmune disorders.Antonie van Leeuwenhoek · 2026Review
- Innovative Approaches to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance: A Review of Emerging Therapies and Technologies.Probiotics and antimicrobial proteins · 2026Review
- Gut commensalMicrobiology spectrum · 2026Article
- Fighting the invader: strategies against intracellular bacteria.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Review
- Statistical design of a synthetic microbiome that suppresses diverse gut pathogens.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Metagenomic analysis reveals distinct patterns of gut microbiota features with diversified functions inGut microbes · 2025Article
- Friend or foe: the gut microbiota as a modulator of disease trajectory in trauma, surgery, and critical illness.Gut microbes · 2025Review
- Role of Nanoplastics in Decreasing the Intestinal Microbiome Ratio: A Review of the Scope of Polystyrene.Toxics · 2025Review
- Biliverdin targeting TcdB-DRBD inhibits Clostridioides difficile virulence and restores gut microbiota in Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus).Communications biology · 2025Article
- Pharmacological insights into gut microbiota modulation in systemic lupus erythematosus: Mechanisms, treatment strategies, and clinical implications.The Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics · 2025Review
- Enabling next-generation anaerobic cultivation through biotechnology to advance functional microbiome research.Nature biotechnology · 2025Review
- Carbon source diversity shapes bacterial interspecies interactions.The ISME journal · 2025Article
- Review
- Gut Microbiota Metabolites Mediate Bax to Reduce Neuronal Apoptosis via cGAS/STING Axis in Epilepsy.Molecular neurobiology · 2024Article
262 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
17 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Relapsing C. difficile disease in humans is linked to a pathological imbalance within the intestinal microbiota, termed dysbiosis, which remains poorly understood. We show that mice infected with epidemic C. difficile (genotype 027/BI) develop highly contagious, chronic intestinal disease and persistent dysbiosis characterized by a distinct, simplified microbiota containing opportunistic pathogens and altered metabolite production. Chronic C. difficile 027/BI infection was refractory to vancomycin treatment leading to relapsing disease. In contrast, treatment of C. difficile 027/BI infected mice with feces from healthy mice rapidly restored a diverse, healthy microbiota and resolved C. difficile disease and contagiousness. We used this model to identify a simple mixture of six phylogenetically diverse intestinal bacteria, including novel species, which can re-establish a health-associated microbiota and clear C. difficile 027/BI infection from mice. Thus, targeting a dysbiotic microbiota with a defined mixture of phylogenetically diverse bacteria can trigger major shifts in the microbial community structure that displaces C. difficile and, as a result, resolves disease and contagiousness. Further, we demonstrate a rational approach to harness the therapeutic potential of health-associated microbial communities to treat C. difficile disease and potentially other forms of intestinal dysbiosis.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.