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RecruitingNCT06172647CMBACTUpdated Dec 15, 2023

Mucosa Adherent Intestinal Microbiome in Microscopic Colitis and Colorectal Cancer

An observational study in Microscopic Colitis, Colorectal Cancer and Colon Adenoma, sponsored by Hospital Mutua de Terrassa. Recruiting at 1 site in Spain. Open to participants aged 45 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2023-12-15.

Sponsored by Hospital Mutua de Terrassa · Observational

From the registry’s dates

  • Primary completion was expected by Jun 2025, 1 year 4 months ago, but the record still lists the study as recruiting.
  • Started Jun 2022; still recruiting 4 years 5 months later.
Study type
Observational
Model
Case-control
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
60
Ages
45 Years and older
Sex
All
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Study summary

Microscopic colitis (MC) is an inflammatory bowel disease characterized by chronic non-bloody watery diarrhoea and a macroscopically normal colonic mucosa upon endoscopic exploration (colonoscopy). The diagnosis is performed by microscopic examination of mucosal biopsies that reveal specific histopathological change. Between 4-20% of patients with chronic non-bloody diarrhoea who undergo colonoscopy with serial biopsies are diagnosed with MC.

It has long been hypothesized that the microbiome plays a key role in the pathogenesis of MC. In patients with collagenous colitis, faecal stream diversion results in inflammation and histological remission, followed by disease relapse after intestinal transit is reconstructed. Moreover, studies carried out with faecal samples obtained after colonoscopy have demonstrated microbiome changes (reduced alpha diversity and higher microbial dysbiosis index) in patients with active MC. To avoid potential bias due to the effect of colonic lavage prior to colonoscopy in microbiota composition, the researchers of the present study previously evaluated the microbiome in faecal samples obtained before the diagnostic colonoscopy in patients with active MC. The results confirmed a reduced alpha diversity in diarrhoea groups; however, there were no differences between MC, bile-acid diarrhoea and functional diarrhoea. The microbial dysbiosis index was significantly higher in MC compared to the other diarrheal groups, but no bacterial species showed a significantly different relative abundance. On the other hand, the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) or adenoma seems to be reduced in MC compared to controls. Growing evidence suggests microbial dysbiosis is a crucial environmental factor in the initiation of precancerous lesions of CRC such as adenomas.

The objective of the current multicentric prospective study is to assess the differences in the mucosa adherent intestinal microbiome between patients with MC, non-MC chronic diarrhoea, healthy controls and patients with advanced colon adenomas. In addition to the study of the microbiome, sociodemographic variables, history of drug usage, diets and specific characteristics of diarrhoea will be collected.

The hypothesis of the present study is that CM presents a specific mucosa adherent intestinal bacterial profile that may be relevant in the pathogenesis of the disease and that, additionally, may also play a protective role against the development of CRC and adenomas.

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Conditions studied

  • Microscopic Colitis
  • Colorectal Cancer
  • Colon Adenoma

Keywords

  • intestinal microbiome
  • mucosal adherent bacteria
  • dysbiosis
  • precancerous lesion
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In context

Colitis, Microscopic

23 studies on the registry are indexed under Colitis, Microscopic; 6 are open to participants now.

Browse Colitis, Microscopic studies →

Lead sponsor

Hospital Mutua de Terrassa is the lead sponsor of 35 studies on the registry; 12 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

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Who can participate

Ages eligible
45 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes
Sampling method
Probability sample

Study population

Patients from participating centers that require a colonoscopy for standard clinical practice (study of chronic watery diarrhoea, treatment of colon adenomas or population screening with a positive faecal occult blood test)

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

MC and Chronic watery diarrhea patients

  1. Women ≥ 45 years old / Men ≥ 60 years old.
  2. Patient with chronic watery diarrhea without blood with ≥2 liquid stools per day for minimum 3 times a week and lasting at least 1 month.
  3. Blood analysis values within normality, with negative celiac disease serology and absence of acute phase reactants (normal C-reactive protein) and normal thyroid hormones. Calprotectin values may be elevated.
  4. Signing of the .

Patients with Advanced Colon Adenomas

  1. Age between 50 and 70 years.
  2. Population screening participants with polyps with a crypt pattern of adenomatous appearance and polyp size of ≥10mm, or patients referred for endoscopic treatment of advanced adenomas.
  3. Signing of the informed consent.

    Healthy controls

  1. Age between 50 and 70 years. 2. Participants in the population screening with normal colonoscopy (without endoscopic alterations except presence of \< 5 polyps (all less than 10mm) and/or colonic diverticulosis (except multiple diverticula in the sigma)). 3. Signing of the informed consent.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Pregnancy or breastfeeding.
  2. Patients who have received antibiotic, probiotic or prebiotic treatment in the 3 months prior to the study. 3. Patients who have traveled to developing or underdeveloped countries in the 3 months prior to the start of the study.
  1. Patients who have received and in the 3 months prior to the start of the study.
  1. Patients who have received radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy in the 6 months prior to the start of the study.
  1. Consumption of herbal products. 7. Bacterial or parasitic intestinal infection (including Blastocystis hominis).
  1. History of inflammatory bowel disease or celiac disease. 9. Previous gastrointestinal surgery (excluding appendectomy or inguinal hernia repair).
  1. Incomplete colonoscopy or lack of of the right, transverse and left colon.
  1. Unsatisfactory preparation for a complete examination (Boston scale \<6, any segment \<2).
  1. Inability to understand the instructions involved in participating in this study
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(4)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

Immunosuppression

A weakened immune system. It can come from an illness, such as HIV or some blood cancers, or from medicines that turn the immune system down, for example after an organ transplant or for an autoimmune disease; steroids at higher doses count.

Read whether the line is about a condition or about medicines, and which medicines and doses it means.

Corticosteroids (steroids)

Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.

Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.

Biopsy and archival tissue

A biopsy takes a small piece of tissue to examine. “Archival tissue” is a sample already taken, for example at diagnosis, and kept by the hospital.

Whether a stored sample will do depends on when it was taken, how much there is and what the study needs. Ask whether the study accepts your stored sample or needs a new biopsy.

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Study design

Observational model
Case-control
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
60 participants (estimated)
Patient registry
No
Biospecimen retention
Samples with dna

Groups and cohorts

  • Active Microscopic Colitis (MC) patients

    Diagnostic Test: Colonoscopy

  • Chronic watery diarrhoea patients

    Diagnostic Test: Colonoscopy

  • Patients with Advanced Colon Adenomas

    Diagnostic Test: Colonoscopy

  • Healthy controls

    Diagnostic Test: Colonoscopy

Interventions

  • Diagnostic testColonoscopy

    Endoscopic exploration of the colon (colonoscopy) for standard clinical practice (study of chronic watery diarrhoea, treatment of colon adenomas or population screening with a positive faecal occult blood test)

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Proportion and abundance of bacterial taxa (defined as total percentage of bacterial DNA sequences)

    Time frame: at inclusion (colonoscopy)

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Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
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References and documents

Publications

  • Miehlke S, Guagnozzi D, Zabana Y, Tontini GE, Kanstrup Fiehn AM, Wildt S, Bohr J, Bonderup O, Bouma G, D'Amato M, Heiberg Engel PJ, Fernandez-Banares F, Macaigne G, Hjortswang H, Hultgren-Hornquist E, Koulaouzidis A, Kupcinskas J, Landolfi S, Latella G, Lucendo A, Lyutakov I, Madisch A, Magro F, Marlicz W, Mihaly E, Munck LK, Ostvik AE, Patai AV, Penchev P, Skonieczna-Zydecka K, Verhaegh B, Munch A. European guidelines on microscopic colitis: United European Gastroenterology and European Microscopic Colitis Group statements and recommendations. United European Gastroenterol J. 2021 Feb 22;9(1):13-37. doi: 10.1177/2050640620951905. Online ahead of print. PubMed 33619914 ↗
  • Jarnerot G, Tysk C, Bohr J, Eriksson S. Collagenous colitis and fecal stream diversion. Gastroenterology. 1995 Aug;109(2):449-55. doi: 10.1016/0016-5085(95)90332-1. PubMed 7615194 ↗
  • Rindom Krogsgaard L, Kristian Munck L, Bytzer P, Wildt S. An altered composition of the microbiome in microscopic colitis is driven towards the composition in healthy controls by treatment with budesonide. Scand J Gastroenterol. 2019 Apr;54(4):446-452. doi: 10.1080/00365521.2019.1599064. Epub 2019 Apr 22. PubMed 31009268 ↗
  • Morgan DM, Cao Y, Miller K, McGoldrick J, Bellavance D, Chin SM, Halvorsen S, Maxner B, Richter JM, Sassi S, Burke KE, Yarze JC, Ludvigsson JF, Staller K, Chung DC, Khalili H. Microscopic Colitis Is Characterized by Intestinal Dysbiosis. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2020 Apr;18(4):984-986. doi: 10.1016/j.cgh.2019.06.035. Epub 2019 Jun 27. PubMed 31254673 ↗
  • Shobar RM, Velineni S, Keshavarzian A, Swanson G, DeMeo MT, Melson JE, Losurdo J, Engen PA, Sun Y, Koenig L, Mutlu EA. The Effects of Bowel Preparation on Microbiota-Related Metrics Differ in Health and in Inflammatory Bowel Disease and for the Mucosal and Luminal Microbiota Compartments. Clin Transl Gastroenterol. 2016 Feb 11;7(2):e143. doi: 10.1038/ctg.2015.54. PubMed 26866392 ↗
  • Drago L, Valentina C, Fabio P. Gut microbiota, dysbiosis and colon lavage. Dig Liver Dis. 2019 Sep;51(9):1209-1213. doi: 10.1016/j.dld.2019.06.012. Epub 2019 Jul 27. PubMed 31358483 ↗
  • Batista L, Robles V, Manichanh C, Ruiz L, Guagnozzi D, Pinsach F, Guarner F, Fernandez-Banares F. Colonic bacterial diversity and dysbiosis in active microscopic colitis as compared to chronic diarrhoea and healthy controls: effect of polyethylene glycol after bowel lavage for colonoscopy. BMC Gastroenterol. 2022 Jun 28;22(1):320. doi: 10.1186/s12876-022-02392-w. PubMed 35764931 ↗
  • Aprile F, Bruno G, Palma R, Mascellino MT, Panetta C, Scalese G, Oliva A, Severi C, Pontone S. Microbiota Alterations in Precancerous Colon Lesions: A Systematic Review. Cancers (Basel). 2021 Jun 19;13(12):3061. doi: 10.3390/cancers13123061. PubMed 34205378 ↗
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Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Dec 15, 2023, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06172647
Lead sponsor
Hospital Mutua de Terrassa
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Dec 15, 2023
Start date
Jun 1, 2022
Primary completion
Jun 30, 2025 (estimated)
Completion
Jun 30, 2025 (estimated)
Last update
Dec 15, 2023

Oversight

FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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