TY - JOUR
T1 - Precision synbiotics increase gut microbiome diversity and improve gastrointestinal symptoms in a pilot open-label study for autism spectrum disorder
AU - Phan, Joann
AU - Calvo, Diana C.
AU - Nair, Divya
AU - Jain, Suneer
AU - Montagne, Thibaut
AU - Dietsche, Summer
AU - Blanchard, Kelsey
AU - Treadwell, Shirin
AU - Adams, James
AU - Krajmalnik-Brown, Rosa
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2024 Phan et al.
PY - 2024/5
Y1 - 2024/5
N2 - The efficacy of prebiotics and probiotics (synbiotics when combined) to improve symptoms associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has shown considerable inter-study variation, likely due to the complex, heterogeneous nature of the disorder and its associated behavioral, developmental, and gastrointestinal symptoms. Here, we present a precision synbiotic supplementation study in 296 children and adults diagnosed with ASD versus 123 age-matched neurotypical controls. One hundred seventy ASD participants completed the study. Baseline and post-synbiotic assessment of ASD and gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms and deep metagenomic sequencing were performed. Within the ASD cohort, there were significant differences in microbes between subpopulations based on the social responsiveness scale (SRS2) survey (Prevotella spp., Bacteroides, Fusicatenibacter, and others) and gluten and dairy-free diets (Bifidobacterium spp., Lactococcus, Streptococcus spp., and others). At the baseline, the ASD cohort maintained a lower taxonomic alpha diversity and significant differences in taxonomic composition, metabolic pathways, and gene families, with a greater proportion of potential pathogens, including Shigella, Klebsiella, and Clostridium, and lower proportions of beneficial microbes, including Faecalibacterium compared to controls. Following the 3-month synbiotic supplementation, the ASD cohort showed increased taxonomic alpha diversity, shifts in taxonomy and metabolic pathway potential, and improvements in some ASD-related symptoms, including a significant reduction in GI discomfort and overall improved language, comprehension, cognition, thinking, and speech. However, the open-label study design may include some placebo effects. In summary, we found that precision synbiotics modulated the gut microbiome and could be used as supplementation to improve gastrointestinal and ASD-related symptoms.
AB - The efficacy of prebiotics and probiotics (synbiotics when combined) to improve symptoms associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has shown considerable inter-study variation, likely due to the complex, heterogeneous nature of the disorder and its associated behavioral, developmental, and gastrointestinal symptoms. Here, we present a precision synbiotic supplementation study in 296 children and adults diagnosed with ASD versus 123 age-matched neurotypical controls. One hundred seventy ASD participants completed the study. Baseline and post-synbiotic assessment of ASD and gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms and deep metagenomic sequencing were performed. Within the ASD cohort, there were significant differences in microbes between subpopulations based on the social responsiveness scale (SRS2) survey (Prevotella spp., Bacteroides, Fusicatenibacter, and others) and gluten and dairy-free diets (Bifidobacterium spp., Lactococcus, Streptococcus spp., and others). At the baseline, the ASD cohort maintained a lower taxonomic alpha diversity and significant differences in taxonomic composition, metabolic pathways, and gene families, with a greater proportion of potential pathogens, including Shigella, Klebsiella, and Clostridium, and lower proportions of beneficial microbes, including Faecalibacterium compared to controls. Following the 3-month synbiotic supplementation, the ASD cohort showed increased taxonomic alpha diversity, shifts in taxonomy and metabolic pathway potential, and improvements in some ASD-related symptoms, including a significant reduction in GI discomfort and overall improved language, comprehension, cognition, thinking, and speech. However, the open-label study design may include some placebo effects. In summary, we found that precision synbiotics modulated the gut microbiome and could be used as supplementation to improve gastrointestinal and ASD-related symptoms.
KW - ASD
KW - gut microbiome
KW - metagenomics
KW - open-label
KW - prebiotics
KW - precision
KW - probiotics
KW - supplements
KW - synbiotics
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85193458469&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1128/msystems.00503-24
DO - 10.1128/msystems.00503-24
M3 - Article
C2 - 38661344
AN - SCOPUS:85193458469
SN - 2379-5077
VL - 9
JO - mSystems
JF - mSystems
IS - 5
ER -