...Researchers have speculated for some time that the myelin degradation seen in MS is due, at least in part, to autoimmune activity against the nervous system. Recent work presented at the
MS Boston 2014 Meeting suggests that this aberrant immune response begins in the gut.
...Our microbiomes also help calibrate our immune systems, so our bodies recognize which co-inhabitants should be there and which should not. Yet mounting evidence suggests that when our resident biota are out of balance, they contribute to numerous diseases, including diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis,
autism and, it appears, MS by inciting rogue immune activity that can spread throughout the body and brain.
...The microbiome theory is gaining so much steam in academia that a coalition of four U.S. research centers called the
MS Microbiome Consortium recently formed to investigate the role of gut microorganisms in the disease.
...Yet answers in science and medicine are rarely simple, she added, pointing out that in all likelihood MS arises from a complicated confluence of genetic and environmental influences that might ultimately trigger autoimmune activity.
