# Fecal microbiota transplant promotes response in immunotherapy-refractory melanoma patients

Source: https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-baruch-science/  
OnCo record `paper-baruch-science` (Key paper). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Paper cited by one trial page and one idea page, indexed on Europe PMC as PubMed record 33303685 and published in Science; the citing pages link this DOI, which is how the record was matched.

## Summary

The gut microbiome has been shown to influence the response of tumors to anti-PD-1 (programmed cell death-1) immunotherapy in preclinical mouse models and observational patient cohorts. However, modulation of gut microbiota in cancer patients has not been investigated in clinical trials. In this study, we performed a phase 1 clinical trial to assess the safety and feasibility of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) and reinduction of anti-PD-1 immunotherapy in 10 patients with anti-PD-1-refractory metastatic melanoma. We observed clinical responses in three patients, including two partial responses and one complete response. Notably, treatment with FMT was associated with favorable changes in immune cell infiltrates and gene expression profiles in both the gut lamina propria and the tumor microenvironment. These early findings have implications for modulating the gut microbiota in cancer treatment.

Indexed on Europe PMC as PubMed record 33303685 (DOI 10.1126/science.abb5920). Matched by DOI alone: one trial page and one idea page cite this DOI among their external links (the pages are listed under Related), and this page was written so that the citation resolves inside OnCo. No figure has been checked by an editor.

## Fields

- Kind: Key paper
- Last checked: 2026-09-22
- Tags: europepmc-ingest
- Journal: Science
- Year: 2021
- DOI: 10.1126/science.abb5920
- Authors: Baruch EN, Youngster I, Ben-Betzalel G, et al.
- What it means: One trial page and one idea page on OnCo cite this paper by its DOI; this record gives the citation a page of its own so a reader can follow it without leaving OnCo. Read the abstract above alongside the citing pages listed under Related; the record was created automatically from the Europe PMC entry and its figures have not been checked by hand.
- Caveats: Matched to the citing OnCo records by DOI alone; the summary reproduces the Europe PMC abstract and no figure has been verified against the full paper.

## Sources

- Science 2021: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abb5920
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33303685/
- Europe PMC: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/33303685

## Connected records

- ideas: [Microbiome transplant as a routine immunotherapy adjunct](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-microbiome-io-fmt/)
- trials: [FMT plus pembrolizumab in anti-PD-1-refractory melanoma (Pittsburgh)](https://onco.cc/trials/fmt-pd1-refractory-melanoma-pitt/)
- journals: [Science](https://onco.cc/journals/science/)

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