PLoS ONE (Jan 2024)

Cervical microbiota dysbiosis associated with high-risk Human Papillomavirus infection.

  • Natalia Zeber-Lubecka,
  • Maria Kulecka,
  • Michalina Dabrowska,
  • Katarzyna Baginska-Drabiuk,
  • Maria Glowienka-Stodolak,
  • Andrzej Nowakowski,
  • Aneta Slabuszewska-Jozwiak,
  • Bożena Bednorz,
  • Ilona Jędrzejewska,
  • Magdalena Piasecka,
  • Jolanta Pawelec,
  • Elzbieta Wojciechowska-Lampka,
  • Jerzy Ostrowski

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0302270
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 19, no. 4
p. e0302270

Abstract

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High-risk Human Papillomavirus (HR-HPV) genotypes, specifically HPV16 and HPV18, pose a significant risk for the development of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and cervical cancer. In the multifaceted cervical microenvironment, consisting of immune cells and diverse microbiota, Lactobacillus emerges as a pivotal factor, wielding significant influence in both stabilizing and disrupting the microbiome of the reproductive tract. To analyze the distinction between the cervical microbiota and Lactobacillus-dominant/non-dominant status of HR-HPV and non-infected healthy women, sixty-nine cervical swab samples were analyzed, included 44 with HR-HPV infection and healthy controls. All samples were recruited from Human Papillomavirus-based cervical cancer screening program and subjected to 16s rRNA sequencing analysis. Alpha and beta diversity analyses reveal no significant differences in the cervical microbiota of HR-HPV-infected women, including 16 and 18 HPV genotypes, and those with squamous intraepithelial lesion (SIL), compared to a control group. In this study we identified significantly lower abundance of Lactobacillus mucosae in women with HR-HPV infection compared to the control group. Furthermore, changes in bacterial diversity were noted in Lactobacillus non-dominant (LND) samples compared to Lactobacillus-dominant (LD) in both HR-HPV-infected and control groups. LND samples in HR-HPV-infected women exhibited a cervical dysbiotic state, characterized by Lactobacillus deficiency. In turn, the LD HR-HPV group showed an overrepresentation of Lactobacillus helveticus. In summary, our study highlighted the distinctive roles of L. mucosae and L. helveticus in HR-HPV infections, signaling a need for further research to demonstrate potential clinical implications of cervical microbiota dysbiosis.