Oral Colonization by Candida Species in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis.

INTRODUCTION: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system. Since immune system plays a key role in this disease, patients with MS can present higher risk of infections. PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of Candida spp. in the oral cavity of MS patients in relation to a control group METHODS: In total, 100 individuals were selected: 55 diagnosed with MS and 45 healthy individuals (control group). Saliva samples were collected and seeded in culture media selecting for Candida. Following an incubation period of 48 h, colony-forming units (CFU mL-1) were counted and colonies were isolated for Candida species identification by multiplex PCR. The results were analysed by chi-squared and Mann-Whitney U statistical tests considering a significance level of 5%. RESULTS: Candida spp. were confirmed in the oral cavity of 50.09% patients in the MS group and 35.55% individuals in the control group. In individuals positive for the growth of Candida spp., the median values of Candida colonies were 220 CFU mL-1 for the MS group and 120 CFU mL-1 for the control group. However, no statistically significant differences were observed between groups for both prevalence and CFU mL-1 count. Of the Candida species identified, 73.91% were C. albicans, 21.73% C. glabrata, 2.17% C. tropicalis, and 2.17% C. krusei. CONCLUSIONS: The colonization of Candida spp. in the oral cavity of individuals with multiple sclerosis was higher than in the control group; however these findings were not proven to be statistically significant.

Exome sequencing of multiple-sclerosis patients and their unaffected first-degree relatives.

OBJECTIVES: The understanding of complex multifactorial diseases requires the availability of a variety of data for a large-number of affected individuals. In this data note here we provide whole exome sequencing data from a set of non-familiar multiple-sclerosis (MS) patients as well as their unaffected first-degree relatives. This data might help the identification of genomic alterations, including single nucleotide polymorphisms, de novo variations and structural genomic variations, such as copy-number alterations that may impact this disease. DATA DESCRIPTION: This dataset comprises the full exome of 28 Brazilian subjects grouped in eight distinct families, consisting of four complete trios (mother-patient-father) plus another four complete trios with one added unaffected sibling. In total, we present the full exome data of eight patients diagnosed with recurrent remittent multiple sclerosis. Diagnoses were made by experienced neurologists and all enrolled patients had at least 5 years of follow up and specific MS treatment. Exomes were sequenced from leukocyte-derived DNA, after the capture of exons using biotinylated probes, in the Ion Proton platform. For each exome we generated an average of 66.1 million good quality mapped reads with an average length of ~ 160nt. On average, for 90% of the exome a vertical coverage above 20× was reached.