Deconfounded, quantitative microbiome profiling identifies robust multiple sclerosis markers and clinical covariate associations
Ayla Pauwels, Lindsay Devolder, Gwen Falony, Miguel D'haeseleer, Guy Nagels, Ann Van Remoortel, Muriel Derrien, Marie D'hooghe, Jeroen Raes · 2026
Read Deconfounded, quantitative microbiome profiling identifies robust multiple sclerosis markers and clinical covariate associations by Ayla Pauwels, Lindsay Devolder, Gwen Falony, Miguel D'haeseleer, Guy Nagels, Ann Van Remoortel, Muriel Derrien, Marie D'hooghe, Jeroen Raes (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13245062.txt.
Description
Ayla Pauwels and colleagues revisited the gut microbes of multiple sclerosis with stricter methods, suspecting earlier contradictions were artifacts. Their study appeared in Gut Microbes in 2026. They counted actual bacterial loads rather than mere proportions. The study covered 228 MS patients against nearly three thousand controls, and corrected for stool moisture, a hidden confounder.
Total bacterial load ran lower in the relapsing form of MS. After cleanup, twenty-one genera differed, with Blautia enriched and Bacteroides depleted among them. Pooling ten past studies overturned some famous markers. Akkermansia and Roseburia did not hold up, while low Bacteroides and high Blautia and Methanobrevibacter stood firm. Two butyrate-producing genera also ran low. The larger point is humility: without load counts and moisture correction, microbiome studies manufacture mirages. Future marker hunts should start cleaned up.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Ayla Pauwels, Lindsay Devolder, Gwen Falony, Miguel D'haeseleer, Guy Nagels, Ann Van Remoortel, Muriel Derrien, Marie D'hooghe, Jeroen Raes |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 71 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |