Strain tracking and engraftment

Strain tracking and engraftment persistence analysis are valuable tools to evaluate the efficacy, safety, dynamics and long-term effects of live biotherapeutic products (LBPs), fecal microbiota transplants (FMTs), and probiotics:  

• Differentiate and track interventional strains from endogenous host strains, even from complex consortia like FMT.
• Monitor the ability of interventional strains to colonize, persist and modify the host’s microbial community. Discerning endogenous from interventional strains allows assessment of strain-specific behavior.
• Understanding colonization patterns of interventional strains is necessary for monitoring behavior within the host and assessing therapeutic impact.
• Engraftment patterns can be correlated to clinical outcomes or other important phenotypes thus guiding next-generation consortia design, dosages or delivery methods.

Strain tracking and engraftment analysis thus serve as indispensable tools, facilitating precision medicine by enabling the customization of microbial interventions based on individual responses and ensuring the optimal therapeutic outcomes for these innovative approaches in the field of microbiome-based therapeutics. 

From discovery through clinical validation, strain tracking and engraftment persistence analysis help inform and understand:

• Efficacy—which is contingent on survival and persistence of interventional strains.
• Sustained and durable therapeutic benefits of introduced strains.
• Associations between engraftment and clinical outcomes or other important phenotypes.
• The effect of dosing and formulation.
• Strain selection and consortia design.
• Much more…