Clinical Significance of Composition and Functional Diversity of the Vaginal Microbiome in Recurrent Vaginitis

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Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Svetlana up on 2024-6-21
study design
Citation
PMID PubMed identifier for scientific articles.
DOI Digital object identifier for electronic documents.
URI
Authors
Kim MJ, Lee S, Kwon MY, Kim M
Journal
Frontiers in microbiology
Year
2022
Keywords:
Lactobacillus spp., microbiome, recurrent vaginitis, taxonomy, vagina
OBJECTIVE: The vaginal microbiome protects the female genital tract from various diseases, such as vaginitis, a vaginal inflammation characterized by abnormal discharge, itching, and pain. To evaluate the clinical relationship between the vaginal microbiome and the pathophysiology of recurrent vaginitis (RV), we investigated the microbiome taxonomic profile (MTP) in the vaginal samples of Korean female patients with RV. METHODS: Forty women of reproductive age diagnosed with RV were enrolled. The vaginal MTP of patients was analyzed using 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing, and the results were compared with that of healthy women (n = 100). Further, the association of the vaginal community state type (CST) with the clinical characteristics was analyzed. RESULTS: The species abundance of MTP was significantly lower in patients with RV than in healthy women (p < 0.05), whereas species evenness and diversity were significantly higher in patients with RV than in healthy individuals (p < 0.05). The proportion of the most common vaginal Lactobacillus spp. was significantly lower in the MTP of patients with RV than healthy women (p < 0.01). The beta diversity distance was also significantly different between patients with RV patients and healthy individuals (p = 0.001). Based on the CST, the MTP of 40 RV samples was categorized as follows: 21 (52.5%) for CST IV, 8 (20.0%) for CST III, 5 (12.5%) for CST I, 2 (5.0%) for CST II, 1 for (2.5%) for CST V, and 3 (7.5%) for mixed CST. Patients with underlying uterine diseases (uterine leiomyoma, adenomyosis, and endometrial polyps; n = 17) showed higher species richness and diversity than those without (n = 23; p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Changes in the species abundance and microbial diversity in the vagina were strongly associated with RV. A low proportion of Lactobacillus spp. was found in patients with RV than in healthy women. The abundance and diversity of bacterial taxa were significantly higher in patients with underlying gynecologic disease than those without. Our study offers an insight into the nature of the vaginal microbiome and proposes that surveying the vaginal microbiome is valuable for detecting and treating gynecologic diseases in the future.

Experiment 1


Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Svetlana up on 2024-6-21

Curated date: 2024/04/09

Curator: Rahila

Revision editor(s): Rahila, Scholastica

Subjects

Location of subjects
South Korea
Host species Species from which microbiome was sampled. Contact us to have more species added.
Homo sapiens
Body site Anatomical site where microbial samples were extracted from according to the Uber Anatomy Ontology
Posterior fornix of vagina Pars posterior fornicis vaginae,Posterior fornix,Posterior part of fornix of vagina,Posterior fornix of vagina,posterior fornix of vagina
Condition The experimental condition / phenotype studied according to the Experimental Factor Ontology
Vaginitis inflammation of vagina,vagina inflammation,vaginal Inflammation,vaginal inflammation,vaginitis,vaginitis (disease),Vaginitis
Group 0 name Corresponds to the control (unexposed) group for case-control studies
Healthy women (control)
Group 1 name Corresponds to the case (exposed) group for case-control studies
Recurrent vaginitis (RV)
Group 1 definition Diagnostic criteria applied to define the specific condition / phenotype represented in the case (exposed) group
Women of reproductive age diagnosed with Recurrent vaginitis (RV).
Group 0 sample size Number of subjects in the control (unexposed) group
100
Group 1 sample size Number of subjects in the case (exposed) group
40
Antibiotics exclusion Number of days without antibiotics usage (if applicable) and other antibiotics-related criteria used to exclude participants (if any)
3 months

Lab analysis

Sequencing type
16S
16S variable region One or more hypervariable region(s) of the bacterial 16S gene
V3-V4
Sequencing platform Manufacturer and experimental platform used for quantifying microbial abundance
Illumina

Statistical Analysis

Data transformation Data transformation applied to microbial abundance measurements prior to differential abundance testing (if any).
relative abundances
Statistical test
Kruskall-Wallis
Significance threshold p-value or FDR threshold used for differential abundance testing (if any)
0.05
MHT correction Have statistical tests be corrected for multiple hypothesis testing (MHT)?
No

Alpha Diversity

Shannon Estimator of species richness and species evenness: more weight on species richness
increased
Chao1 Abundance-based estimator of species richness
decreased
Simpson Estimator of species richness and species evenness: more weight on species evenness
decreased
Richness Number of species
decreased

Signature 1

Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Svetlana up on 2024-6-21

Curated date: 2024/04/09

Curator: Rahila

Revision editor(s): Rahila, Scholastica

Source: Figure 1

Description: Statistically significant taxa (y-axis) between 40 cases with recurrent vaginitis (RV) and 100 healthy individuals (x-axis).

Abundance in Group 1: increased abundance in Recurrent vaginitis (RV)

NCBI Quality ControlLinks
Escherichia coli
Fannyhessea vaginae
Gardnerella vaginalis
Gemelliphila asaccharolytica
Sneathia vaginalis
Ureaplasma urealyticum

Revision editor(s): Rahila, Scholastica

Signature 2

Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Svetlana up on 2024-6-21

Curated date: 2024/06/20

Curator: Scholastica

Revision editor(s): Scholastica

Source: Figure 1

Description: Statistically significant taxa (y-axis) between 40 cases with recurrent vaginitis (RV) and 100 healthy individuals (x-axis).

Abundance in Group 1: decreased abundance in Recurrent vaginitis (RV)

NCBI Quality ControlLinks
Lactobacillus
Lactobacillus crispatus
Lactobacillus gasseri
Lactobacillus jensenii
Limosilactobacillus reuteri

Revision editor(s): Scholastica

Experiment 2


Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Svetlana up on 2024-6-21

Curated date: 2024/06/20

Curator: Scholastica

Revision editor(s): Scholastica

Differences from previous experiment shown

Subjects

Condition The experimental condition / phenotype studied according to the Experimental Factor Ontology
Vaginal microbiome measurement vaginal flora measurement,vaginal microbiota measurement,Vaginal microbiome measurement,vaginal microbiome measurement
Group 0 name Corresponds to the control (unexposed) group for case-control studies
Community state type (CST) I
Group 1 name Corresponds to the case (exposed) group for case-control studies
Community state type (CST) III and IV
Group 1 definition Diagnostic criteria applied to define the specific condition / phenotype represented in the case (exposed) group
Women of reproductive age diagnosed with Recurrent vaginitis (RV) categorized as community state type (CST) III and IV
Group 0 sample size Number of subjects in the control (unexposed) group
5
Group 1 sample size Number of subjects in the case (exposed) group
29

Lab analysis

Statistical Analysis

Statistical test
LEfSe
LDA Score above Threshold for the linear discriminant analysis (LDA) score for studies using the popular LEfSe tool
2.0


Signature 1

Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Svetlana up on 2024-6-21

Curated date: 2024/06/20

Curator: Scholastica

Revision editor(s): Scholastica

Source: Figure 5A

Description: Differential abundance of the bacterial taxa in three CST (I, III, and IV) groups of vaginal samples of patients with recurrent vaginitis (RV)

Abundance in Group 1: decreased abundance in Community state type (CST) III and IV

NCBI Quality ControlLinks
Lactobacillus crispatus

Revision editor(s): Scholastica

Experiment 3


Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Svetlana up on 2024-6-21

Curated date: 2024/06/20

Curator: Scholastica

Revision editor(s): Scholastica

Differences from previous experiment shown

Subjects

Group 0 name Corresponds to the control (unexposed) group for case-control studies
Community state type (CST) I and IV
Group 1 name Corresponds to the case (exposed) group for case-control studies
Community state type (CST) III
Group 1 definition Diagnostic criteria applied to define the specific condition / phenotype represented in the case (exposed) group
Women of reproductive age diagnosed with Recurrent vaginitis (RV) categorized as community state type (CST) III
Group 0 sample size Number of subjects in the control (unexposed) group
26
Group 1 sample size Number of subjects in the case (exposed) group
8

Lab analysis

Statistical Analysis

Signature 1

Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Svetlana up on 2024-6-21

Curated date: 2024/06/20

Curator: Scholastica

Revision editor(s): Scholastica

Source: Figure 5A

Description: Differential abundance of the bacterial taxa in three CST (I, III, and IV) groups of vaginal samples of patients with recurrent vaginitis (RV)

Abundance in Group 1: increased abundance in Community state type (CST) III

NCBI Quality ControlLinks
Lactobacillus iners
Lactobacillus
Lactobacillaceae
Lactobacillales
Bacilli
unclassified Lactobacillus
Bacillota
Limosilactobacillus reuteri

Revision editor(s): Scholastica

Experiment 4


Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Svetlana up on 2024-6-21

Curated date: 2024/06/20

Curator: Scholastica

Revision editor(s): Scholastica

Differences from previous experiment shown

Subjects

Group 0 name Corresponds to the control (unexposed) group for case-control studies
Community state type (CST) I and III
Group 1 name Corresponds to the case (exposed) group for case-control studies
Community state type (CST) IV
Group 1 definition Diagnostic criteria applied to define the specific condition / phenotype represented in the case (exposed) group
Women of reproductive age diagnosed with Recurrent vaginitis (RV) categorized as community state type (CST) III and IV
Group 0 sample size Number of subjects in the control (unexposed) group
13
Group 1 sample size Number of subjects in the case (exposed) group
21

Lab analysis

Statistical Analysis

Signature 1

Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Svetlana up on 2024-6-21

Curated date: 2024/06/20

Curator: Scholastica

Revision editor(s): Scholastica

Source: Figure 5A

Description: Differential abundance of the bacterial taxa in three CST (I, III, and IV) groups of vaginal samples of patients with recurrent vaginitis (RV)

Abundance in Group 1: increased abundance in Community state type (CST) IV

NCBI Quality ControlLinks
Actinomycetota
Bacteroidales
Bacteroidia
Bacteroidota
Bifidobacteriaceae
Bifidobacteriales
Coriobacteriaceae
Coriobacteriales
Coriobacteriia
Fannyhessea vaginae
Gardnerella
Gardnerella vaginalis
Peptoniphilaceae
Tissierellales
Tissierellia
Oscillospiraceae

Revision editor(s): Scholastica