The Microbiota and MS

All humans are colonized by a diverse range of commensal, symbiotic and pathogenic micro-organisms, termed the microbiota. These include bacteria, fungi, archaea and viruses. The human microbiome refers to their genomes. Multiple lines of evidence implicate the gastrointestinal microbiota as playing an important role in the development and modulation of the human immune system as well as a variety of metabolic roles. In parallel with the basic science exploring potential mechanisms whereby the microbiota could be implicated in disease causation, accumulating epidemiological research has demonstrated unequivocal associations between a wide spectrum of human illnesses and variations in the microbiota. This lecture will explain the function and nature of the microbiota, the biological pathways by which the microbiota fundamentally influence the development and regulation of the immune system, provide a broad overview of the emerging technologies used to study the microbiome, and emphasise ther existing and growing evidence for the role of the microbiome in MS and the potentials for therapeutic manipulation