Objective: We investigated the gut microbiome (GM) composition in association with various clinical features and nutritional data in a large cross-sectional Australian Parkinson’s disease (PD) cohort, to determine whether short-chain fatty-acid–producing bacteria representation in the GM was altered in association with clinical or nutritional differences between PD patients and controls.

Background: Imbalances in the composition of the GM from PD patients have been reported previously. Collectively, the limited literature indicates a reduction in short-chain fatty-acid–producing bacteria that negatively influence colonic permeability and inflammation.

Method: Clinical outcome measures derived from PD-validated questionnaires and stool samples were collected from 103 PD patients and 81 spousal healthy controls (HCs). GM composition, determined from 16S amplicon sequencing of the V3-V4 region of stool bacterial DNA, was compared between groups and with clinical outcome measures.

Results: We identified significant compositional differences in the GM profiles of PD patients compared to HCs, across order, family and genus taxonomic levels. Multiple taxa were associated with a variety of clinical PD characteristics. Predictive models using GM profiles were developed to identify PD and were improved by incorporating nutritional data.

Conclusion: We identified notable differences in microbial diversity and GM composition in PD patients compared to HCs that, along with nutritional data, enabled the development of predictive modelling to identify PD. These findings further support the GM as a potentially useful biomarker of PD pathophysiology.

This abstract is partially reproduced from a planned presentation at the Virtual Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists, Annual Society Meeting, 19-21 May 2021.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/gut-microbiota-and-nutritional-profiles-of-parkinsons-disease-patients/