The Effect of VSL#3 Probiotic Preparation on the Bile Acid Metabolism in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease

The Effect of VSL#3 (Original De Simone Formulation) Probiotic Preparation on the Bile Acid Metabolism in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease

The aim of the study is to determine, whether administration of VSL#3 (Original De Simone formulation) probiotic preparation can alter the bile acid metabolism in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

Study Overview

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Conditions: Crohn Disease; Ulcerative Colitis
• Intervention / Treatment: Dietary supplement: VSL#3 (Original De Simone formulation)

Detailed Description

VSL#3 (Original De Simone formulation, further abbreviated as VSL#3), a potent probiotic preparation, has been tested as an adjuvant therapy in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), chronic unspecific inflammatory disorders of the gastrointestinal tract (the most frequent forms of IBD are Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC)). VSL#3 has been shown to improve symptoms of IBD both in animal models and in humans-the most impressive results have been observed in preventing of pouchitis in UC patients. Several possible mechanisms of its action have been suggested, including change in gut microbial diversity, immunomodulatory function (upregulation of interleukine-10), etc., however, the list is probably far from complete.

Bile acids (BA) play an important role in the gastrointestinal tract - besides facilitating fat (and protein) digestion and resorption, they act as general antimicrobial agents within the small intestine (maintaining the small intestine more or less microbe-free), colonic microflora modifiers, intestinal innate immunity regulators, and importantly as signalling molecules on the liver-intestine/intestine-liver axis. Under pathological conditions (such as BA malabsorption) BA can worsen the IBD symptoms (namely diarrhoea), by irritating colonic mucosa or by inducing colonic secretion of electrolytes.

The study hypothesis is that the beneficial effect of VSL#3 might be partially explained by alteration of BA metabolism. There exists a complex crosstalk between gut microflora and BA: BA affect microbial growth, whereas BA structure is modified by bacteria (deconjugation, 7 α dehydroxylation). Several observations might support this hypothesis: VSL#3 ameliorates symptoms of radiation or chemotherapy induced diarrhoea, as well as diarrhoea of critically ill patients - conditions, that can be caused by BA malabsorption. Similarly, oxalate absorption (closely related to BA malabsorption) has been shown to be lowered by VSL#3. The main question to be addressed in the proposed study is, therefore, whether VSL#3 administration can somehow change metabolism of bile acids (BA).

Additionally, urinary metabolite levels are strongly influenced by differences in the intestinal microbiota, since both gut bacterial metabolism, and shared metabolism by the host and bacterial species ('co-metabolism'), generate specific metabolic products. Such metabolites may therefore be used as markers of microbial metabolic activity, reflecting systemic, functional differences. This application of urinary metabolic profiling avoids the technical difficulties, and methodological differences, found in molecular studies of the intestinal microbiota in IBD, which have contributed to often discrepant findings. Specific urinary metabolites related to gut microbial metabolism differ between CD patients, UC patients, and controls. The emerging technique of urinary NMR-based metabolic profiling with multivariate analysis was able to distinguish these cohorts. This study should address the question, whether VSL#3 administration changes the nuclear magnetic resonance-based urinary metabolomic profile.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 79
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Czechia
  • Prague, Czechia, 17004
    • Iscare I.V.F.

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Arm CD resected

• confirmed diagnosis of Crohn´s disease (at least 6 months)
• history of single resection of terminal ileum (at least 6 months before inclusion)
• maximum length of resected ileum is 60 cm
• no signs of disease activity (clinical, endoscopical, laboratory)
• stable medication

Arm UC unoperated

• confirmed diagnosis of ulcerative colitis (at least 6 months)
• no signs of disease activity (clinical, endoscopical, laboratory)
• stable medication

Arm UC IPAA

• confirmed diagnosis of ulcerative colitis (at least 6 months)
• proctocolectomy and IPAA (at least 3 months before inclusion)
• no signs of disease activity (clinical, endoscopical, laboratory)
• stable medication

Arm Healthy volunteers

• no signs of gastrointestinal disorder
• initial laboratory examination within normal range (blood count, liver function tests, C-reactive protein, Fe, ferritin, fecal calprotectin)

Exclusion Criteria:

• use of bile acids
• use of bile acids sequestrants
• use of farnesoid X receptor agonists/antagonists
• recent colonoscopy(less than 1 month before inclusion)
• diabetes

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

4

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: CD resected; Patients with Crohn´s disease with the history of single resection (<60 cm) of distal leum.	Dietary supplement: VSL#3 (Original De Simone formulation); Study subjects will receive two sachets of VSL#3 probiotic (ie 2x900 billions of live bacteria) per day (one in the morning, one in the evening). The intervention period will be 6 weeks (plus or minus 5 days).
Experimental: UC unoperated; Patients with ulcerative colitis without history of gut resection.	Dietary supplement: VSL#3 (Original De Simone formulation); Study subjects will receive two sachets of VSL#3 probiotic (ie 2x900 billions of live bacteria) per day (one in the morning, one in the evening). The intervention period will be 6 weeks (plus or minus 5 days).
Experimental: UC IPAA; Patients with ulcerative colitis after proctocolectomy and ileal pouch-anal anastomosis(IPAA).	Dietary supplement: VSL#3 (Original De Simone formulation); Study subjects will receive two sachets of VSL#3 probiotic (ie 2x900 billions of live bacteria) per day (one in the morning, one in the evening). The intervention period will be 6 weeks (plus or minus 5 days).
Experimental: Healthy volunteers; Subjects without any sign of disease of the digestive tract.	Dietary supplement: VSL#3 (Original De Simone formulation); Study subjects will receive two sachets of VSL#3 probiotic (ie 2x900 billions of live bacteria) per day (one in the morning, one in the evening). The intervention period will be 6 weeks (plus or minus 5 days).

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Alteration in the rate of bile acid synthesis	Will be assessed as difference between serum levels of fibroblast growth factor 19 and C4 at baseline and 6 weeks, respectively.	Baseline and 6 weeks (plus or minus 5 days)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Change of the spectrum of bile acids in stools and plasma	Baseline and 6 weeks (plus or minus 5 days).
Change of a metabolomic profile in urine	Baseline and 6 weeks (plus or minus 5 days).

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Change of the disease activity	Baseline and 6 weeks (plus or minus 5 days).

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Charles University, Czech Republic
• Collaborators: University of Roma La Sapienza; University Of Perugia; Iscare i.v.f., Czech Republic; CD Investments srl
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Martin Lenicek, MD, Ph.D., Charles University, Czech Republic

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: February 1, 2014
• Primary Completion (Estimated): August 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 7, 2013
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 9, 2013
• First Posted (Estimated): January 10, 2013

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 23, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 21, 2026
• Last Verified: April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: probiotics; metabolism; bile acids
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Intestinal Diseases; Digestive System Diseases; Gastrointestinal Diseases; Colonic Diseases; Gastroenteritis; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases; Colitis; Colitis, Ulcerative; Crohn Disease
• Other Study ID Numbers: VSL#3-2013-CR

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No