One way to prolong the lives of organ transplant recipients could be addressing poor gut microbial signatures that new research shows are associated with their long-term survival.
A study published July 9 in the BMJ journal, Gut noted specific patterns in the gut microbiome among those who died after kidney, liver, heart, and lung transplants. Microbial signatures included the diversity of microbes, richness of antibiotic-resistant genes, how the signatures compared to controls, and virulence factors, which are bacteria-associated molecules that can infect cells and cause disease.
