Gut microbiota dysbiosis in patients with Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract

Abstract Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory and demyelinating autoimmune disease that is known to involve environmental predisposition—an important component of which may be influenced by the GI microbiota. This study was designed to investigate whether gut microbiota may play a role in the etiopathogenesis of MS, by comparing the composition of fecal microbiota in MS patients to that of age- and gender-matched healthy controls. Phylotype profiles of the microbiome populations were generated using deep sequencing of the hyper variable V3–V5 region of the 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene and high quality sequences were then analyzed for taxonomic composition and clustering (OTU) using QIIME (Quantitative Insights Into Microbial Ecology) and LEfSe (LDA Effect Size). High-throughput multiplexed MiSeq sequencing yielded over 50,000 reads/sample, ensuring detection of both dominant and rare members of the microbiome. Detailed fecal microbiome analyses revealed that patients with MS had a distinct microbial community profile compared to healthy controls. We observed a decreased abundance of taxa involved in metabolism of phytoestrogen and bile acid, both of which play important roles in the maintenance of gut homeostasis and the induction of anti-inflammatory pathways. This study suggests that microbial dysbiosis, particularly a decrease in anti-inflammatory microbes, may lead to an increased pro-inflammatory immune response and subsequent predisposition to the development of MS. In particular, our study consistent with the hypothesis that microbial dysbiosis is a contributing environmental factor involved in the etiopathogenesis of MS.