November 25, 2020 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD Gut Immune Cells That Travel to Brain May Help Resolve MS Disease Relapses A particular type of gut microbiota-reactive immune cells, called IgA-producing B-cells, travels to the brain of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients during relapses, where they produce anti-inflammatory molecules, a study shows. The underlying mechanisms of this event and these cells’ role in MS remain largely unclear, but these…
October 22, 2020 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD Impact of Gut Microbiota in MS More Complex Than Thought, Study Shows The presence of a particular gut bacterium widely used in probiotics, called Lactobacillus reuteri (L. reuteri), was sufficient to increase disease severity in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS), but only in genetically susceptible animals, a recent study shows. These findings highlight the complex interactions between…
September 4, 2020 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD #MSVirtual2020 – Meeting Focus Is on Advances in MS Research, Diagnostics, and Technology The upcoming MSVirtual2020 meeting, the largest international conference dedicated to multiple sclerosis (MS) research, will focus on advances and breakthroughs made in MS causes and risk factors, diagnostic tools, treatment response biomarkers, technology, and therapies and interventions. The 8th joint meeting of the Americas Committee for Treatment and…
August 28, 2020 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD Gut Bacteria Working in Concert May Promote MS, Early Study Suggests Two specific bacteria present together in the gut led to more immune attacks on myelin and harsher symptoms in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS). These findings add to existing evidence supporting the link between gut microbiota and MS, and highlight the need to consider potential combined effects of these…
April 8, 2020 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD Altering Gut Microbiota May Be Beneficial Prior to MS Onset, But Not After, Mouse Study Indicates Changing the gut’s microbial community (microbiota) with antibiotics prevented the development of multiple sclerosis (MS), but not its progression after the disease was established, data from a mouse model of the disease show. These findings support evidence that microbiota manipulations affect inflammatory immune responses involved in MS development, but…
January 7, 2020 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD Probiotics Show Potential to Prevent, Delay Development of MS, Study Finds Probiotics show potential to prevent and delay the development of multiple sclerosis (MS) by changing immune and inflammatory responses, according to a review study. Data further support the link between the gut’s microbial community (microbiota) and the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord), and neurodegenerative diseases. However, large-scale clinical…
October 28, 2019 News by Steve Bryson, PhD Altered Fear Response, Changes in Brain Chemistry Seen in Mice with Poor Gut Microbiota Depleting microbes in the gut of mice led to an altered fear response, changes in gene expression in brain immune cells and changes in brain chemistry — returning to a more normal state after their gut microbes were restored, but only if done early in life, a study…
May 23, 2019 News by Ana Pena PhD Stress-induced Changes in Gut Bacteria May Increase Risk of Autoimmune Disorders, Mouse Study Suggests Stress-induced changes in gut bacteria, or gut microbiota, may play a significant part in the possible link between exposure to stress and the risk of autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis (MS), a mouse research study says. In the study “…
February 13, 2019 News by Jonathan Grinstein Early-life Antibiotic Use Disrupts Gut Microbiota and Immune System, MS Rat Study Finds Early-life use of antibiotics disrupts gut microbiota in a rat model of multiple sclerosis (MS) and provokes nervous system autoimmunity, ultimately aggravating disease severity, new research shows. Results also indicate early-life antibiotic use may have unfavorable consequences on regulation of the immune system. The research article, “…
August 5, 2016 by Özge Özkaya, PhD Gut Microbiota Is Growing Focus of Multiple Sclerosis Research, Though Treatments Are Few Gut microbiota (the ecological community of microorganisms that live in the gut) may be an important environmental risk factor for multiple sclerosis (MS). This suggests that strategies to correct the imbalance in the normal intestinal flora, also known as microbial dysbiosis may help treat or event prevent MS.
July 11, 2016 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD Gut Microbiota Seen to Differ in People with Relapsing MS, Especially Those with Active Disease Fecal samples from a group of people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) showed evidence of a different gut microbiota than that found in healthy controls, and may be a non-genetic reason for the altered immune system responses seen in MS patients. The study, “Multiple sclerosis patients have…
May 18, 2016 News by Inês Martins, PhD Gut Microbiota in Young MS Patients Is Higher in Pro-Inflammatory Bacteria Than Usual, Study Finds Children and adolescents with multiple sclerosis (MS) differ from others in the composition of their gut flora, with higher levels of inflammation-causing bacteria and lower levels of anti-inflammatory bacteria, according to a study from the University of British Columbia, Canada. The findings, supporting previous hypotheses that the composition of the gut microbial community could influence the development…
September 15, 2015 News by Patricia Silva, PhD Gut Microbiota Imbalance Discovered in Multiple Sclerosis Patients A new study recently published in the journal PLOS One revealed that multiple sclerosis (MS) patients have a microbial imbalance (dysbiosis) in their gut microbiota that is most likely linked to the disease pathogenesis. The study is entitled “Dysbiosis in the Gut Microbiota of…
