Figure 3. Correlations between microbiota abundances and immune gene expression.

(a) Gene expression was measured from circulating T cells and monocytes by the Nanostring Immunology panel in MS patients (n=18) and healthy controls (n=18). (a) canonical pathways significantly altered in MS patients and healthy subjects with an activation z-score>|1.5| in both T cells (black bars) and monocytes (grey bars) identified by Ingenuity Pathway Analysis. (b) Altered gut microbiota abundances correlate with immune gene expression in MS patients. Spearman's correlations (σ) between the relative abundance of significantly altered microbes in subject groups and the relative expression of genes from identified canonical pathways significantly altered between healthy controls and untreated MS patients. Colour and slope of ellipse indicate magnitude of correlation, with σ value superimposed on ellipse. Subject groups were either all MS patients and controls together (All), untreated MS patients alone (MS-U) or healthy controls alone (HC).