Cerebrospinal fluid in a small cohort of patients with multiple sclerosis was generally free of microbial DNA

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Bording-Jorgensen, M.
  • O'keefe, S.
  • Mason, A.
  • Warren, K.
  • Patterson J.
  • Jovel, J.
  • Wong, G.
  • Wang, W.

• Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a common cause of non-traumatic neurologic disability with
  high incidence in many developed countries. Although the etiology of the disease
  remains elusive, it is thought to entail genetic and environmental causes, and microbial
  pathogens have also been envisioned as contributors to the phenotype. We conducted
  a metagenomic survey in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from 28 MS patients and 15 patients
  suffering other type of neurological conditions. We detected bacterial reads in eight out
  of the 15 non-MS patients and in a single MS patient, at an abundance >1% of total
  classified reads. Two patients were of special interest: one non-MS patient harbored
  ∼73% bacterial reads, while an MS patient had ∼83% bacterial reads. In the former
  case, Veillonella parvula, a bacterium occasionally found associated with meningitis was
  the predominant species, whilst Kocuria flava, apparently an environmental bacterium,
  predominated in the latter case. Thirty-four out of 43 samples contained <1%
  bacterial reads, which we regard as cross- or environmental contamination. A few viral
  reads corresponding to Epstein-Barr virus, cytomegalovirus, and parvovirus were also
  identified. Our results suggest that CSF of MS patients is often (but not always) free of
  microbial DNA.

• Date created

  2017-01-06

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Cerebrospinal fluid
  • Bioinformatics
  • Microbiome
  • Multiple sclerosis
  • Metagenomics

• Type of Item

  Article (Published)

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3TD9NN7M

• License

  Attribution 4.0 International