The alteration of gut microbiome and metabolism in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients

Study information

Needs review

study design

case-control

Citation

PMID PubMed identifier for scientific articles.

32747678

DOI Digital object identifier for electronic documents.

10.1038/s41598-020-69845-8

URI

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32747678/

Authors

Zeng Q, Shen J, Chen K, Zhou J, Liao Q, Lu K, Yuan J, Bi F

Journal

Scientific reports

Year

2020

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease accompanied with severe paralysis or even death, while the pathogenesis of ALS is still unclear and no effective therapy exists. The accumulating evidence has indicated the association between gut microbiota and various neurological diseases. Thus, to explore the potential role of gut microbiome in ALS, 20 patients diagnosed with probable or definite ALS and 20 healthy controls were enrolled and their fecal excrements were collected. The analysis of fecal community diversity with 16S rDNA sequencing showed an obvious change in microbial structure of ALS patients, where Bacteroidetes at the phylum level and several microbes at the genus level were up-regulated, while Firmicutes at the phylum level and Megamonas at the genus level were down-regulated compared to healthy controls. Additionally, decreased gene function associated with metabolic pathways was observed in ALS patients. The metagenomics further demonstrated the discrepancies in microflora at the species level and relevant metabolites thereof were also revealed when combined with metabolomics. In conclusion, the altered composition of the gut microbiota and metabolic products in ALS patients provided deeper insights into the pathogenesis of ALS, and these biomarkers might be established as potential therapeutic targets which deserve further exploration.

Experiment 1

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Needs review

Curated date: 2021/01/14

Curator: Fatima

Revision editor(s): Fatima, WikiWorks

Subjects

Location of subjects: China

Host species Species from which microbiome was sampled (if applicable): Homo sapiens

Body site Anatomical site where microbial samples were extracted from according to the Uber Anatomy Ontology: Feces Cow dung,Cow pat,Droppings,Dung,Excrement,Excreta,Faeces,Fecal material,Fecal matter,Fewmet,Frass,Guano,Matières fécales@fr,Merde@fr,Ordure,Partie de la merde@fr,Piece of shit,Porción de mierda@es,Portion of dung,Portion of excrement,Portion of faeces,Portion of fecal material,Portion of fecal matter,Portion of feces,Portion of guano,Portion of scat,Portionem cacas,Scat,Spoor,Spraint,Stool,Teil der fäkalien@de,Feces

Condition The experimental condition / phenotype studied according to the Experimental Factor Ontology: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ALS,ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis),ALS - Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (disorder),Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis With Dementia,Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Guam Form,Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinsonism/Dementia complex of Guam,Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis-Parkinsonism/dementia Complex 1,AMYOTROPHIC SCLEROSIS,Bulbar motor neuron disease,Charcot disease,Dementia With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis,Disease, Lou-Gehrigs,Gehrig Disease,Gehrig's Disease,GEHRIGS DIS,Gehrigs Disease,Guam Form of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis,Lateral Scleroses, Amyotrophic,LOU GEHRIG DIS,Lou Gehrig Disease,Lou Gehrig disease,Lou Gehrig's Disease,Lou Gehrig's disease,LOU GEHRIGS DIS,Lou Gehrigs Disease,Lou-Gehrigs Disease,MOTOR NEURON DIS AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS,Motor Neuron Disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis,Motor neuron disease, bulbar,motor neuron disease, bulbar,Sclerosis, Amyotrophic Lateral

Group 0 name Corresponds to the control (unexposed) group for case-control studies: Healthy controls
Group 1 name Corresponds to the case (exposed) group for case-control studies: ALS patients
Group 1 definition Diagnostic criteria applied to define the specific condition / phenotype represented in the case (exposed) group: Patients clinically diagnosed with probably or definite ALS according to the revised El Escorial criteria in the neurology department.
Group 0 sample size Number of subjects in the control (unexposed) group: 20
Group 1 sample size Number of subjects in the case (exposed) group: 20

Lab analysis

Sequencing type: 16S

16S variable region One or more hypervariable region(s) of the bacterial 16S gene: V4

Sequencing platform Manufacturer and experimental platform used for quantifying microbial abundance: Illumina

Statistical Analysis

Statistical test: LEfSe

Significance threshold p-value or FDR threshold used for differential abundance testing (if any): 0.05
MHT correction Have statistical tests be corrected for multiple hypothesis testing (MHT)?: Yes
LDA Score above Threshold for the linear discriminant analysis (LDA) score for studies using the popular LEfSe tool: 4
Matched on Factors on which subjects have been matched on in a case-control study: age
Confounders controlled for Confounding factors that have been accounted for by stratification or model adjustment: age

Alpha Diversity

Shannon Estimator of species richness and species evenness: more weight on species richness: increased
Chao1 Abundance-based estimator of species richness: increased
Richness Number of species: increased