Transfer of FRozen Encapsulated Multidonor Stool Filtrate for Active Ulcerative COlitis

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease with significant morbidity and mortality. Although the precise cause remains unknown, disturbances in the intestinal microbial community and changes in the crosstalk between the microbiota and the mucosal immune system have been linked to its pathogenesis. As current therapies are limited, there is a medical need for new therapies. Faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) has been proven to be effective in managing relapsing Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) and preliminary results indicated that also the transfer of filtrates of donor stool (FMFT) drives gastrointestinal microbiota changes and eliminate symptoms in CDI patients. FRESCO is a randomized, longitudinal, prospective, three arm, multicentre, double blind study to determine safety and efficacy of repeated FMT or FMFT compared to placebo using oral, frozen capsules in 174 randomized patients with mild to moderate active UC. The primary outcome will be clinical and endoscopic remission at week 12. This proposal aims to examine: (a) the efficacy of FMT / FMFT as a therapy for active UC, (b) the safety of FMT / FMFT in patients with UC and (c) the microbial and inflammable changes that occur after FMT / FMFT, to help understand how and why it works in this group of patients. All analyses will be conducted in both intention-to-treat (primary) and per-protocol (sensitivity analyses) populations, and the differences in remission rates and relapse rates between the groups will be statistically analysed to determine the efficiency of FMT versus FMFT.