Association of the Cervical Microbiota With Pregnancy Outcome in a Subfertile Population Undergoing In Vitro Fertilization: A Case-Control Study

Study information

Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Svetlana up on 2024-6-10

study design

case-control

Citation

PMID PubMed identifier for scientific articles.

34631595

DOI Digital object identifier for electronic documents.

10.3389/fcimb.2021.654202

URI

Authors

Hao X, Li P, Wu S, Tan J

Journal

Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology

Year

2021

Keywords:

16S r RNA, IVF (in vitro fertilization), cervical microbiota, infertility, pregnancy

The microorganisms of the reproductive tract have been implicated to affect in vitro fertilization (IVF) outcomes. However, studies on the reproductive tract microbiota of infertile women are limited and the correlation between cervical microbiota and IVF outcome remains elusive. This study aimed to characterize the cervical microbiota of IVF patients undergoing embryo transfer (ET) and assess associations between the cervical microbiota and pregnancy outcomes while exploring the underlying contributing factors. We launched a nested case-control study of 100 patients with two fresh or frozen-thawed cleavage embryos transferred per IVF cycle. Cervical swabs were collected on the day of ET and divided into four groups according to clinical pregnancy outcomes. Variable regions 3 and 4 (V3-V4) of the 16S rRNA gene were amplified and sequenced on the Illumina MiSeq platform. In fresh IVF-ET cycles, the clinical pregnancy group (FP, n = 25) demonstrated higher α diversity (P = 0.0078) than the non-pregnancy group (FN, n = 26). Analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) revealed a significant difference in β diversity between the two groups (R = 0.242, P = 0.001). In frozen-thawed ET cycles, though not significant, similar higher α diversity was found in the clinical pregnancy group (TP, n = 27) compared to the non-pregnancy group (TN, n = 22) and ANOSIM analysis showed a significant difference between the two groups (R = 0.062, P = 0.045). For patients in fresh IVF-ET groups, Lactobacillus, Akkermansia, Desulfovibrio, Atopobium, and Gardnerella showed differentially abundance between pregnant and non-pregnant women and they accounted for the largest share of all taxa investigated. Among them, Lactobacillus was negatively correlated with the other genera and positively correlated with serum estradiol levels. Logistic regression analysis suggested that the composition of the cervical microbiota on the day of ET was associated with the clinical pregnancy in fresh IVF-ET cycles (P = 0.030). Our results indicate that cervical microbiota composition has an impact on the outcome of assisted reproductive therapy.

Experiment 1

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Curated date: 2024/04/09

Curator: Rahila

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Subjects

Location of subjects: China

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: Cervical mucus Cervix mucus,Cervical mucus,cervical mucus

Condition The experimental condition / phenotype studied according to the Experimental Factor Ontology: Pregnancy Gestation,PREGN,Pregnancies,Pregnancy,pregnancy

Group 0 name Corresponds to the control (unexposed) group for case-control studies: Non-pregnant (FN)

Group 1 name Corresponds to the case (exposed) group for case-control studies: Clinical pregnancy (FP)

Group 1 definition Diagnostic criteria applied to define the specific condition / phenotype represented in the case (exposed) group: Female IVF patients undergoing fresh embryo transfer (ET) who achieved clinical pregnancy

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: 25

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: LEfSe

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

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

Alpha Diversity

Shannon Estimator of species richness and species evenness: more weight on species richness: increased

Simpson Estimator of species richness and species evenness: more weight on species evenness: increased

Signature 1

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Curator: Rahila

Revision editor(s): Rahila, Scholastica, WikiWorks

Source: FIG 4 (A)

Description: Differential abundance and association analysis among the cervical microbiota of the fresh pregnancy group (FP) compared to the non-pregnancy group (FN)

Abundance in Group 1: decreased abundance in Clinical pregnancy (FP)

NCBI	Quality Control	Links
Acetobacter
Acetobacteraceae
Acidaminococcaceae
Bacilli
Bacillota
Faecalibacterium
Fusobacteriaceae
Fusobacterium
Gemmiger
Haemophilus
Lactobacillaceae
Lactobacillales
Lactobacillus
Phascolarctobacterium
Prosthecobacter
Roseburia
Weissella

Revision editor(s): Rahila, Scholastica, WikiWorks

Signature 2

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Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Svetlana up on 2024-6-10

Curated date: 2024/04/09

Curator: Rahila

Revision editor(s): Rahila, Scholastica, WikiWorks

Source: FIG 4 (A)

Description: Differential abundance and association analysis among the cervical microbiota of the fresh pregnancy group (FP) compared to the non-pregnancy group (FN)

Abundance in Group 1: increased abundance in Clinical pregnancy (FP)

NCBI	Quality Control	Links
Acetatifactor
Acidobacteriota
Actinomycetota
Aerococcaceae
Akkermansia
Alloprevotella
Anaeroplasma
Anaeroplasmatales
Anaerotruncus
Arcobacter
Atopobium
Bacteroidales
Bacteroidia
Bilophila
Burkholderiaceae
Butyricimonas
Campylobacterales
Candidatus Parcubacteria
Coriobacteriaceae
Coriobacteriales
Deltaproteobacteria
Desulfovibrio
Desulfovibrionaceae
Desulfovibrionales
Dialister
Epsilonproteobacteria
Erysipelotrichaceae
Erysipelotrichales
Erysipelotrichia
Gardnerella
Helicobacter
Helicobacteraceae
Neisseria
Neisseriaceae
Neisseriales
Nocardioidaceae
Parabacteroides
Paraprevotella
Parasutterella
Polynucleobacter
Porphyromonadaceae
Rhodococcus
Rhodocyclaceae
Rhodocyclales
Rickettsiales
Ruminococcus
Turicibacter
Verrucomicrobiaceae
Verrucomicrobiales
Verrucomicrobiia
Verrucomicrobiota
Clostridium IVClostridium IV
Clostridium XVIIIClostridium XVIII
Acidobacteria_Gp4Acidobacteria_Gp4
Clostridiales incertae sedis XIClostridiales incertae sedis XI
Enhydrobacter
Rickettsiaceae
Anaeroplasmataceae
Bacteroidota
Parcubacteria genera incertae sedisParcubacteria genera incertae sedis

Revision editor(s): Rahila, Scholastica, WikiWorks