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Mirza, Ali

University of British Columbia

A growing body of evidence points to the gut microbiota playing a role in immune-mediated, neurological disease, such as multiple sclerosis (MS). An important initial step to understanding the relationship between the gut microbiota and MS is to compare the gut microbial community composition and metagenome in individuals with and without MS. In order to investigate the differences between the gut microbiome of MS patients and unaffected individuals, I conducted a systematic review of ten published articles from 2008-2018. The majority of studies found no difference in gut microbiota diversity, but consistent taxonomic differences were observed. To further investigate the MS microbiome, I conducted a case-control study using stool samples from individuals under the age of 22 with and without pediatric-onset MS who were enrolled in the Canadian Pediatric Demyelinating Disease Network. The study compared microbial taxonomy, gene annotations, metabolic pathways, and predicted metabolites in stool samples derived from metagenomic reads between MS cases and controls. I also assessed the relationship between diet, gut microbiota composition, and MS risk in the same population. The results of this dissertation showed subtle differences in individual taxa and functions between the gut microbiota of MS cases and controls. Additionally, a healthier diet rich in fiber was associated with a lower risk of MS and the MS-associated microbiota composition was also associated with aspects of diet. Overall, this research suggests that the gut microbiome plays a role in MS and that the potential interaction between diet and the gut microbiota is relevant in the development of MS. While gut microbiota diversity didn't significantly differ between MS cases and controls, we observed subtle differences in the relative abundance of individual taxa and functions. Future studies with larger sample sizes and longitudinal data collection are needed to both confirm findings and to verify interpretation of these findings. Understanding the role of the gut microbiota in MS may lead to the development of novel prevention and treatment strategies for this debilitating disease.

Text

2023-11-23

Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/86660

Bioinformatics

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/