Functional implications of microbial and viral gut metagenome changes in early stage L-DOPA-naïve Parkinson’s disease patients

Parkinson's disease (PD) presently is conceptualized as a protein aggregation disease in which pathology involves both the enteric and the central nervous system, possibly spreading from one to another via the vagus nerves. As gastrointestinal dysfunction often precedes or parallels motor symptoms, the enteric system with its vast diversity of microorganisms may be involved in PD pathogenesis. Alterations in the enteric microbial taxonomic level of L-DOPA-naïve PD patients might also serve as a biomarker.

We performed metagenomic shotgun analyses and compared the fecal microbiomes of 31 early stage, L-DOPA-naïve PD patients to 28 age-matched controls.