Treatment With Gut Bacteria Shows Benefits In New Study

Research Summary: Prevotella histicola, A Human Gut Commensal, Is as Potent as COPAXONE® in an Animal Model of Multiple Sclerosis

Many people living with multiple sclerosis say they have experienced benefits from using diet as a way to manage their disease.  In more recent years, this has led to a greater focus being placed on research in this area.  Gut health is one topic that has generated significant amounts of interest.  In particular, there has been a number of exciting studies that have suggested a potential role for gut bacteria (or the gut microbiome) in multiple sclerosis. 

For example, at last year’s ECTRIMS meeting, we interviewed Dr Helen Tremlett from the University of British Columbia on this area of research (which you can revisit here).  Our website archive also contains summaries of other research studies that have been performed involving the gut microbiome, which you can read here, here and here.

A couple of major pieces of information have led to excitement that this may be a potential avenue for treating multiple sclerosis.

Firstly, it has been shown that the gut bacteria in people living with MS are different to healthy controls.  This is both in terms of the types of bacteria present and the abundance of them.

Secondly, it has been observed that receiving some multiple sclerosis treatments actually reverses these differences.

An example of this is with a bacteria called Prevotella.  People living with multiple sclerosis tend to have fewer numbers of this bacteria compared to healthy individuals.  However, for those taking Copaxone, it was found that the abundance of Prevotella was increased.

This finding has led researchers from the University of Iowa to investigate whether treatment with the bacteria itself could be a useful therapy for multiple sclerosis.  This study was recently published in Frontiers in Immunology and can be accessed here.

Using a mouse model of multiple sclerosis, they found that treatment with the bacteria (Prevotella histicola) was just as effective at reducing the symptoms of the disease as treating it with Copaxone.

They found that treatment with both the bacteria and Copaxone in combination did not increase the benefits seen for either therapy alone.

These results were observed in both preventative and therapeutic settings.  This means that benefits were seen whether the treatments were given before the disease had started or after symptoms had developed.

It was found that the treatment with Prevotella histicola had a greater impact on reversing the gut microbiome of the mice with disease back to the ‘normal’ state compared to Copaxone.

This study provides some really interesting evidence that suggests that not only might gut bacteria be playing a role in multiple sclerosis, but they could also be a potential new avenue for treatment.  

Whilst this has only been shown in a small mouse study so far, it will be exciting to see how it progresses and we will make sure to keep you updated as the research develops!