- Liang, Geoffrey;
- Zhu, Feng;
- Mirza, Ali I;
- Bar-Or, Amit;
- Bernstein, Charles N;
- Bonner, Christine;
- Forbes, Jessica D;
- Graham, Morag;
- Hart, Janace;
- Knox, Natalie C;
- Marrie, Ruth Ann;
- O’Mahony, Julia;
- Van Domselaar, Gary;
- Yeh, E Ann;
- Zhao, Yinshan;
- Banwell, Brenda;
- Waubant, Emmanuelle;
- Tremlett, Helen;
- Network, the Canadian Paediatric Demyelinating Disease
Objective
Examine if the gut microbiota composition changes across repeated samples in paediatric-onset multiple sclerosis (MS) or monophasic-acquired demyelinating syndromes (monoADS).Methods
A total of 36 individuals (18 MS/18 monoADS) with ⩾2 stool samples were included. Stool sample-derived DNA was sequenced. Alpha/beta diversities and genus-level taxa were analysed.Results
Mean ages at first sample procurement (MS/monoADS) = 18.0/13.8 years. Median time (months) between first/second samples = 11.2 and second/third = 10.3. Alpha/beta diversities did not differ between stool samples (p > 0.09), while one genus - Solobacterium did (p = 0.001).Conclusions
The gut microbiota composition in paediatric-onset MS and monoADS exhibited stability, suggesting that single stool sample procurement is a reasonable first approach.