Fecal Microbiota Transplantation in Patients With Malignancies Not Responding to Cancer Immunotherapy

The intestinal microbiome forms a symbiotic relationship with the human host and continuously interacts with its immune system. Specific compositions of the intestinal microbiome in patients with cancer have been linked to the response to therapy with cancer immunotherapies (CI), such as immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). The investigators hypothesize that fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) from patients being responsive to ICI therapy (FMT-Donor) can modulate the intestinal microbiome of patients with CI-refractory malignancies (FMT-Recipients) and render them into responders. Successful proof-of-concept studies showed that reversion from an ICI non-responsive to a responsive disease is indeed possible in melanoma patients after FMT. This trial expands the FMT intervention to patients with any malignancy treated with cancer immunotherapy as a standard of care, to demonstrate the feasibility of this FMT approach as a novel option in cancer therapy.