Cell: Start with the intestinal flora to understand multiple sclerosis

The International Multiple Sclerosis Microbiome Research (iMSMS) consortium recently published an article in the journal Cell that the gut microbiome composition of patients with multiple sclerosis varies

The etiology of multiple sclerosis (MS) remains unclear, but it is generally accepted that both genetic and environmental factors influence the development of

Sergio Baranzini, a professor of neurology at the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues at iMSMS wrote in the paper: "These results strongly support a specific association

The iMSMS consortium recruited 576 MS patients and 576 healthy controls within the same family from seven different centers in the United States, South America and Europe and collected stool samples

In untreated MS patients with untreated MS, there were more than a dozen microorganisms increased and six decreased

They also found that there were few differences between the functional potential of microbes, but differences

Many microorganisms, including Akkermansia muciniphila, degrade phytates

The treatments received by MS patients further affect their gut microbiome

The researchers also examined the effects of diet on the composition of the gut microbiome of MS and found that while MS patients tended to eat healthier diets than controls in the same household, diet had little

Baranzini and colleagues added: "The findings strongly support the association

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Gut microbiome of multiple sclerosis patients and paired household healthy controls reveal associations with disease risk and course