Good news!
"... Scientists have long suspected that gut bacteria may influence a person’s risk of developing multiple sclerosis. But studies so far have had inconsistent findings.
To address these inconsistencies, my colleagues and I used what researchers call a bedside-to-bench-to-bedside approach: starting with samples from patients with multiple sclerosis, conducting lab experiments on these samples, then confirming our findings in patients.
In our newly published research, we found that the ratio of two bacteria in the gut can predict multiple sclerosis severity in patients, highlighting the importance of the microbiome and gut health in this disease. ..."
From the significance and abstract:
"Significance
We demonstrate the heterogeneity of the gut microbiome in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, characterized by the enrichment of Blautia and Akkermansia species. Using a mouse model of MS, we identified that a reduced Bifidobacterium to Akkermansia ratio served as a gut microbial marker of disease severity. Administering MS-associated Blautia species in mice altered this ratio and strongly correlated with disease scores, underscoring its potential in predicting severity. The lower Bifidobacterium to Akkermansia ratio at the species level, Bifidobacterium adolescentis to Akkermansia muciniphila (BA:AM), was validated in our human cohort and the larger International Multiple Sclerosis Microbiome Study (iMSMS). These findings highlight the BA:AM ratio’s promise as a microbial marker for microbiome-based diagnostics and therapeutic interventions in MS.
Abstract
Gut microbiota dysbiosis is associated with multiple sclerosis (MS), but the causal relationship between specific gut bacteria and MS pathogenesis remains poorly understood. Therefore, we profiled the stool microbiome of people with MS (PwMS) and healthy controls (HC) using shotgun metagenomic sequencing.
PwMS showed a distinct microbiome compared to HC, with Prevotella copri (PC) and Blautia species as drivers of microbial communities in HC and PwMS, respectively.
Administration of MS-driving Blautia species (Blautia wexlerae; BW) to mice resulted in increased levels of gut inflammatory markers and altered microbiota with increased capacity to induce proinflammatory cytokines.
Utilizing experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of MS, we identified a lower gut Bifidobacterium to Akkermansia ratio as a hallmark of the disease. BW-administered mice also showed a lower Bifidobacterium to Akkermansia ratio pre-EAE induction which correlated with increased disease severity post-EAE induction.
The importance of the Bifidobacterium to Akkermansia ratio at the species level, lower Bifidobacterium adolescentis to Akkermansia muciniphila (BA:AM), was validated in our MS cohort and a large International Multiple Sclerosis Microbiome Study. Thus, our findings highlight the BA:AM ratio as a potential gut microbial marker in PwMS, opening avenues for microbiome-based diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy in MS."
No comments:
Post a Comment