Left to right: Drs. Ramakrishna Sompallae, Shailesh Shahi, Katherine Gibson-Corley, Ashutosh Mangalam

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) causing disability in 2.5 million people worldwide. Despite the availability of a number of immunomodulatory drugs, there are no entirely satisfactory treatments for MS. A new study from Dr. Ashutosh Mangalam’s laboratory had identified a bacteria derived from human gut with health promoting benefits. Dr. Mangalam has previously shown that MS patients have distinct gut microbiota compared to healthy controls.  In this study, a team of researchers including Drs. Shailesh Shahi, Katherine Gibson-Corley, and Ramakrishna Sompallae, and researchers at Mayo Clinic showed that a human gut bacteria, Prevotella histicola can suppress disease in the animal model of MS. Prevotella histicola suppressed disease by boosting specific immune cells (regulatory T cells) responsible for keeping pathogenic immune cells in check.  The findings are published in the August 8th issue of Cell Reports.

For more information, please view the article posted on the loop.