Prevalent high-risk HPV infection and vaginal microbiota in Nigerian women

Abstract

SUMMARYIn this study, we evaluated the association between high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) and the vaginal microbiome. Participants were recruited in Nigeria between April and August 2012. Vaginal bacterial composition was characterized by deep sequencing of barcoded 16S rRNA gene fragments (V4) on Illumina MiSeq and HPV was identified using the Roche Linear Array® HPV genotyping test. We used exact logistic regression models to evaluate the association between community state types (CSTs) of vaginal microbiota and hrHPV infection, weighted UniFrac distances to compare the vaginal microbiota of individuals with prevalent hrHPV to those without prevalent hrHPV infection, and the Linear Discriminant Analysis effect size (LEfSe) algorithm to characterize bacteria associated with prevalent hrHPV infection. We observed four CSTs: CST IV-B with a low relative abundance of Lactobacillus spp. in 50% of participants; CST III (dominated by L. iners) in 39·2%; CST I (dominated by L. crispatus) in 7·9%; and CST VI (dominated by proteobacteria) in 2·9% of participants. LEfSe analysis suggested an association between prevalent hrHPV infection and a decreased abundance of Lactobacillus sp. with increased abundance of anaerobes particularly of the genera Prevotella and Leptotrichia in HIV-negative women (P < 0·05). These results are hypothesis generating and further studies are required.

Leptotrichia species in human infections II

“…Also, Leptotrichia species were isolated from tumor tissues and sputum of patients with tuberculosis, acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and feces of piglets with porcine epidemic diarrhea virus [40,41,43,50,51]. They were also detected in patient material from tongue plaque with malodor [42], biofilms of caries, oral epithelial cells [48,49], vaginal swabs with high-risk human papillomavirus, and from HIV-positive and -negative subjects [55]. The guts of herbivorous, carnivorous, and omnivorous fish [58], tumor tissues and saliva of patients with head and neck squamous-cell carcinoma human papillomavirus (HPV), oropharyngeal squamous-cell carcinoma HPV, and oral cavity squamous-cell carcinoma HPV [19] all contained Leptotrichia species.…”

“…The concept that Leptotrichia infections are opportunistic is further supported in the current review. Leptotrichia species, primarily oral commensals, have been associated with infections, particularly in immunocompromised hosts (Table 2) [4,9,13–17,24,30,32,46,55,74,78,97], but occasionally in immunocompetent persons [5,11,12,24,33,60,74,78,85]. …”

Bacterial Vaginosis and Sexually Transmitted Diseases: Relationship and Management

“…It seems universally accepted that increased bacterial diversity, as in BV, with the well-known vaginal ecosystem modifications, could be associated with gynecological infections, such as Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Trichomonas vaginalis, human papilloma virus (HPV), and herpes simplex virus (HSV) 2 infections [21,[76][77][78].…”

“…Since isolation of BV-associated bacteria in the vagina has been demonstrated to increase the risk of sexually transmitted infection acquisition, the correlation of BV with PID may be related to altered vaginal flora that predisposes to STIs and subsequent ascending infection [76,77].…”

Immunology of HPV Infection

“…Evidence is emerging that the risk of prevalent HPV infection and highgrade CIN is associated with changes in the vaginal microbiota and dominance of Lactobacillus sp. [49][50][51]. The female genital mucosal environment is complex but virally induced changes to the mucosal microenvironment, altering the commensal and hormonal balance, and the innate responses modulated by these are likely culprits in association with the virusmediated downregulation of KC immune functions in promoting an immunosuppressive environment and neoplastic progression.…”