Abstract
The picture of dynamic interaction between oncogenic viruses and the vaginal bacteria-immune host milieu is incomplete. We evaluated the impact of Polyomaviridae, Papillomaviridae, and Herpesviridae oncoviruses on the vaginal Community State Types (CSTs) and host immune response in reproductive-age women. In our cohort, only Polyomaviridae and Papillomaviridae were detected and were associated with changes in the resident bacteria of CST I and IV (p < 0.05). Lactobacillus crispatus increased in CST I while Prevotella timonensis and Sneathia sanguinegens increased in CST IV. Conversely, CST II and III showed an alteration of the immune response, with the decrease of Eotaxin, MCP-1, IL-7, IL-9, and IL-15 (p < 0.05), leading to reduced antiviral efficacy. An efficient viral clearance was observed only in women from CST I, dominated by Lactobacillus crispatus. Our in vivo study begins to address the knowledge gap with respect to the role of vaginal bacteria and immune response in susceptibility to oncoviral infections.
Highlights
IntroductionThe mutualism between the vaginal mucosa and its bacterial microbiome is a key point of the physiologic condition of the female reproductive tract [1]
The mutualism between the vaginal mucosa and its bacterial microbiome is a key point of the physiologic condition of the female reproductive tract [1].Cumulative pieces of evidence have shown that, alongside bacteria, viruses are a constitutive part of the vaginal microbiome and that the virome is composed by both eukaryotic and prokaryotic viruses
Bacterial microbiome composition was evaluated in 90 vaginal swabs through sequencing of the barcoded V3 region of the 16S rRNA gene, and the swabs were clustered into four community state types (CSTs) based on the predominant Lactobacillus species
Summary
The mutualism between the vaginal mucosa and its bacterial microbiome is a key point of the physiologic condition of the female reproductive tract [1]. Cumulative pieces of evidence have shown that, alongside bacteria, viruses are a constitutive part of the vaginal microbiome and that the virome is composed by both eukaryotic and prokaryotic viruses. As the virome study methodologies improve, eukaryotic viruses causing latent or asymptomatic infections are being recognized as the more prominent members of the vaginal microbiome, suggesting an intimate relationship with both resident bacteria and host susceptibility and immune response to viral infections [2]. The oncogenic viruses infecting the cervical tract can cause asymptomatic latent infections and induce cellular transformation after many decades. Each virus has its own specific mechanism for promoting carcinogenesis, the ability of these viruses to establish a latent persistent infection is critical to incidental viral tumorigenesis [5]
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