Gut microbiome differences between amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients and spouse controls

Figures & data

Figure 1 Gut microbiome profiles did not differ between the males (n = 10) and females (n = 10) of the healthy volunteer group, as assessed by permutational analysis of variance (p = 0.4). PCoA: Principal coordinate analysis.

Figure 2 Gut microbiome profiles were different between ALS patients (n = 9) and their spouses (n = 9), as assessed by permutational analysis of variance (p = 0.003).

Figure 3 ALS patient (n = 9) gut microbiomes were more diverse than those of their spouses (n = 9) with respect to species richness (p = 0.03) and species evenness (p = 0.004), which were measured using the Chao1 and Shannon indices, respectively.

Figure 4 ALS patients (n = 9) were deficient in Prevotella spp. compared with their spouses (n = 9; p = 0.02).

Figure 5 ALS patients (n = 9) were deficient in P. timonensis compared with their spouses (n = 9; p = 0.04; sign test).

Table 1. Average (Avg.) and standard deviation (SD) values of inflammatory biomarkers in plasma and stool for ALS patients as well as for partner/caregiver controls, and the average and standard deviation of the difference between patient and control.

Group		ALS patients (n = 10)		Partner/caregivers (n = 10)		Δ (n = 10)		p Value*	Adjusted p value**
Medium	Analyte^a	Avg.	SD	Avg.	SD	Avg.	SD
Plasma	CRP (×10^−6)	1.73	1.67	3.25	2.83	−1.52	3.19	0.17	0.46
	IFN-γ	3.94	1.63	7.14	5.26	−3.19	6.33	0.15	0.46
	IL-10	0.35	0.12	0.47	0.44	−0.12	0.43	0.41	0.60
	IL-1β	0.05	0.05	0.06	0.12	−0.01	0.10	0.73	0.79
	IL-12p70	0.16	0.17	0.23	0.20	−0.07	0.27	0.44	0.61
	IL-13	0.76	0.68	0.58	0.41	0.19	0.85	0.50	0.66
	IL-2	0.26	0.12	0.39	0.14	−0.13	0.21	0.08	0.38
	IL-4	0.03	0.01	0.03	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.19	0.46
	IL-6	0.71	0.43	0.78	0.73	−0.07	0.87	0.81	0.81
	IL-8	2.25	0.79	3.05	2.12	−0.80	1.98	0.23	0.46
	LBP	3125	893	3684	1469	−558	1819	0.36	0.56
	LPS	6.01	0.72	6.10	1.08	−0.09	1.04	0.79	0.81
	TNF	3.19	0.46	3.40	1.41	−0.20	1.35	0.65	0.77
Stool	CRP (×10^−6)	449	651	1093	1296	−644	1610	0.24	0.46
	IFN-γ	29.7	58.6	55	111.12	−25.32	133.6	0.56	0.70
	IL-10	0.20	0.16	0.64	0.63	−0.45	0.57	0.03	0.38
	IL-1β	39.0	34.0	90.5	92.7	−51.5	93.9	0.12	0.43
	IL-12p70	0.95	0.70	1.14	1.18	−0.19	1.42	0.68	0.77
	IL-13	11.39	19.98	23.09	31.63	−11.9	37.0	0.34	0.56
	IL-2	26.2	56.9	65.4	82.3	−39.2	109	0.28	0.50
	IL-4	0.16	0.10	0.23	0.14	−0.06	0.09	0.06	0.38
	IL-6	0.25	0.23	0.52	0.54	−0.26	0.44	0.09	0.38
	IL-8	179	226	806	934	−627	902	0.06	0.38
	LBP	0.42	0.50	2.92	6.09	−2.49	6.21	0.24	0.46
	TNF	1.29	0.88	2.89	3.03	−1.61	2.58	0.08	0.38

p Values were calculated by paired t-test.

^aUnits are pg/ml except for LPS, which is EU/ml.

*p Value for paired t-test.

**p Value adjusted for multiple comparisons using Benjamini–Hochberg correction.

Figure 6 KEGG pathway analysis revealed a differential abundance of enzymes in ALS patients (upper bar) and their spouses (lower bar).

Data availability statement

The 16S sequence data have been deposited in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database on BioProject accession number PRJNA566436. Sample metadata are maintained at dx.doi.org/10.15139/S3/84SGKO.

Code for processing and analyses are maintained at dx.doi.org/10.15139/53/845GKO.