Reacción a "Specific species of microbiota associated with severity of multiple sclerosis"

The study uses an appropriate methodology and is a good example of how we can advance our understanding of the relationship between microbiota and disease by combining comparative patient-control studies with the use of animal models that can be manipulated to test different hypotheses.

The work provides interesting results and points to possible relationships between the abundance of certain bacteria and the severity of the disease, which could have clinical applications with new diagnostic methods.

It studies a small cohort from a single population and other studies would have to validate these results in other populations and with more samples. The results in humans point to quite complex relationships that differ somewhat from the results in mice. For example, Akkermansia does not appear among the species with the greatest differences in patient-control comparisons, but it does appear in mice, which could indicate important differences between the animal model and the situation in humans. The study focuses on the possible role of a few species, which possibly simplifies a more complex reality as suggested by the great variability observed.