IDENTIFICATION OF PATHOGENS CORRELATED WITH MULTOPLE SCLEROSIS: A METAGENOMIC APPROACH.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine if pathogenic infections are associated with multiple sclerosis (MS). There have been numerous hypotheses advanced that attribute infections including viruses, bacteria, and fungi to the cause of MS. Infections have been implicated in causing other demyelinating diseases such as neuromyelitis optica (NMO), acute transverse myelitis (ATM), and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM). A metagenomic analysis will be done using blood samples from three groups: subjects recently diagnosed with MS, healthy controls, and subjects with other demyelinating diseases. The study will use the Illumina HiSeq platform to sequence nucleic acids present in these samples. Using a metagenomic approach, the pathogenic sequences in the different groups will be compared to identify any pathogen(s) that have a higher prevalence in the MS group. The results will confirmed by PCR and Sanger sequencing and further analyzed to determine if there is a correlation between the MS group and the other demyelinating diseases control group using multinomial logistic regression. Additional studies will be needed to determine if any identified pathogen(s) are causative agents of MS or incidental infections.