Patient Perceptions of Bioengineered Probiotics and Clinical Metagenomics, Project

The Human Microbiome Project will likely accelerate the introduction of probiotics, bioengineered probiotics, and clinical metagenomics into the care of patients with chronic gastrointestinal diseases. The extent to which these patients will be receptive to new diagnostic tools and therapeutic interventions enabled by human microbiome research is unclear. This multisite study characterized patient attitudes and beliefs regarding potential novel metagenomic and probiotic approaches to managing inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

In this study, 22 focus groups were conducted with 136 individuals with IBD or IBS from the Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins, and the Mayo Clinic between March and August 2009. Participants viewed probiotics as an appealing alternative to pharmaceutical drugs and understood probiotics as a more “natural,” low-risk therapeutic option. Although participants were largely unfamiliar with human microbiome research, they were...