Gut microbiota and multiple sclerosis

Gut microbiota and multiple sclerosis

Recent years research high-light a link between gut microbiota and human autoimmunity, including the neuro-degenerative disease Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Two recent scientific publications show a modest gut microbial dysbiosis. The dysbiosis affects a limited set of microbes, but both studies observe a marked reduction in Prevotella abundance (Jang et al. Nat Com 2016 and Chen et al. Sci Rep 2016).

Whether modifying gut microbiota may have therapeutic potential in multiple sclerosis remains to be analyzed. Data in favour of such effect is available for the mouse model of human multiple sclerosis (Berer et al. Nature 2011). However, only anecdotal evidence for such effect in human multiple sclerosis is available from various patient discussion forums (antibiotics and intestinal lavage) as well as one medical intervention study of three patients treated with fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) (Bodory et al. Am J Gastroenterol 2011).

This topic is available for discussions concerning the effect of therapeutic interventions targeting the gut microbiota in the context of multiple sclerosis.