In my last post I noted that our reading group was going to explore the role that gut health might play in MS. We read two papers and two of us agreed to do a short presentation as a stimulus to discussion.

I volunteered to read and present a summary of Host Genetics and Gut Microbiome: Perspectives for Multiple Sclerosis 2021, Alessandro Maglione, Miriam Zuccalà, Martina Tosi, Marinella Clerico, and Simona Rolla

My very short summary of the paper goes as follows:

There are strong experimental and theoretical reasons to believe an association between genetics, the microbiome, and the cause and progression of MS

HOWEVER, at the level of individual genes, genomes and bacteria this association is complex and hard to prove

AND, the understanding of host genetic and gut microbiome composition could be a challenge for designing personalised therapeutic strategies

I pulled together a short powerpoint if you’re interested in a very layperson’s summary of a complex review paper.

The notes pages in the powerpoint provide a bit more detail and you can download it here.