Abstract
The gut-brain axis is increasingly recognized as a critical contributor to Parkinson’s disease (PD) pathogenesis, yet the therapeutic impact of microbiota modulation remains unclear due to lack of clinical trials in drug-naïve patients.
We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 2 trial to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of repeated donor fecal microbiota transplantation (dFMT) in de novo PD. FMT was administered for seven days (200 mL on days 1–3; 50 mL on days 4–7) per 4-week cycle. Seventy-two patients were randomized 1:1 to receive dFMT or autologous FMT (aFMT), and 66 completed the trial.
At 35 weeks, the dFMT group showed significant improvement in motor symptoms (mean change in Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale [UPDRS] III: −3.8 vs. +0.1; p = 0.0001) and a substantially greater reduction in constipation severity (dFMT vs. aFMT: −6.5 vs. −0.7; p < 0.0001), accompanied by improved quality-of-life scores. Microbiome profiling revealed greater similarity to donor composition and a marked reduction in Escherichia-Shigella, correlating with decreased colonic α-synuclein aggregation (r = 0.3775, p = 0.0277), supporting a gut-brain mechanistic link.
Biochemical analyses showed elevated fecal dopamine and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid levels, while histological assessments demonstrated strengthened epithelial barrier integrity with increased E-cadherin expression. All adverse events were mild and self-limited; no serious treatment-related events were observed.
These findings demonstrate that repeated dFMT is safe, well tolerated, and yields clinically meaningful motor and gastrointestinal improvements in drug-naïve PD, providing integrated mechanistic and clinical evidence that microbiota-targeted modulation represents a promising nonpharmacologic therapeutic strategy for neurodegenerative disease. Trial registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR2200064151.
