Goldfarb School of Nursing Barnes Jewish College

Author Of 1 Presentation

Microbiome Poster Presentation

P0675 - Multi-OMICS of the host-gut microbiome dynamics in multiple sclerosis (ID 1719)

Speakers
Presentation Number
P0675
Presentation Topic
Microbiome

Abstract

Background

Gut microbiome changes have been described in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients compared to healthy controls (HCs). Evidence from studies on germ-free animals led to the hypothesis that the gut microbiome is involved in shaping the nature of the autoimmune response. Systematic studies with the aim to investigate a possible correlation between gut microbiome composition, peripheral immune-metabolic profiles, disease course and response to therapy are lacking.

Objectives

The main goal of this study was to test the hypothesis that the gut microbiome is correlated with the peripheral immune-metabolic profile and it influences MS disease course and response to therapy.

Methods

Thirty untreated MS patients and 24 age- and gender-matched HCs were enrolled at the John L Trotter MS Center at Washington University School of Medicine. Stoll and blood samples were collected at baseline before treatment and at 6 months after starting treatment. Stool samples were subjected to 16S rRNA gene sequencing and Whole Genome Shotgun Sequencing using the Illumina Miseq platform. Immunophenotyping was performed on whole blood samples by flow cytometry to characterize T, B, NK and myeloid cells.

Results

Considering both the MS and the control groups we found that body mass index and peripheral immune profile accounted for 4% and 3% of total variance in the microbiome composition (p=0.03). Differential microbiome abundance analysis performed at baseline demonstrated a significant decrease of Fecalibacterium species in MS compared to HCs. Moreover, the MS group presented alteration in fungi composition in the gut flora with higher abundance of Saccharomices and Aspergillus compared to the HCs group. Interestingly, in HCs we found a correlation between microbiome composition and peripheral blood immunophenotype, that was lost in MS subjects. Analyzing specific immune profiles in the MS group, we observed a strong correlation between Bacteroides and B cells, Alistipes and CD8+ naïve T cells and Lachnospiracee and Th1 memory cells.

Conclusions

We obtained preliminary results on an integrated multi-omics approach to identify new potential biomarkers to predict MS disease course, progression and response to therapy.

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