Di Pietro Marisa, Filardo Simone, Porpora Maria Grazia, Recine Nadia, Latino Maria Agnese, Sessa Rosa
Section of Microbiology, Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, University of Rome "Sapienza", Rome, Italy.
Department of Gynecology, Obstetrics and Urology, University of Rome "Sapienza", Rome, Italy.
New Microbiol. 2018 Jan;41(1):34-41. Epub 2018 Jan 9.
HPV and Chlamydia trachomatis are the most common causes of sexually transmitted diseases worldwide. Most infections are asymptomatic and left untreated lead to severe reproductive tract sequelae such as cervical cancer and infertility. Interestingly, C. trachomatis may also increase the susceptibility to HPV infection as well as contribute to viral persistence. Recently, a growing body of evidence has suggested that the composition of the cervico-vaginal microbiota plays a key role in the susceptibility and outcome of genital infections caused by several pathogens, including HPV and C. trachomatis. The aim of our study was to undertake a metagenomic analysis of sequenced 16s rRNA gene amplicons to characterize the cervical microbiota from asymptomatic women with HPV/C. trachomatis co-infection. The composition of the cervical microbiota from HPV-positive or C. trachomatis-positive women was also analysed. The main finding of our study showed that the cervical microbiota in HPV/C. trachomatis co-infected women had a higher microbial diversity than the cervical microbiota in healthy controls (p<0.05). In addition, Aerococcus christensenii was associated with C. trachomatis infection. In conclusion, the increased cervical microbial diversity observed in HPV/C. trachomatis co-infected women and the detection of potential microbiological biomarkers of C. trachomatis infection will open the way to innovative approaches that may be helpful to identify women at risk of co-infection.
人乳头瘤病毒（HPV）和沙眼衣原体是全球最常见的性传播疾病病因。大多数感染无症状，若不治疗会导致严重的生殖道后遗症，如宫颈癌和不孕症。有趣的是，沙眼衣原体还可能增加HPV感染的易感性，并导致病毒持续存在。最近，越来越多的证据表明，宫颈阴道微生物群的组成在包括HPV和沙眼衣原体在内的几种病原体引起的生殖器感染的易感性和结果中起关键作用。我们研究的目的是对测序的16s rRNA基因扩增子进行宏基因组分析，以表征HPV/沙眼衣原体合并感染的无症状女性的宫颈微生物群。还分析了HPV阳性或沙眼衣原体阳性女性的宫颈微生物群组成。我们研究的主要发现表明，HPV/沙眼衣原体合并感染女性的宫颈微生物群比健康对照的宫颈微生物群具有更高的微生物多样性（p<0.05）。此外，克里斯滕森气球菌与沙眼衣原体感染有关。总之，在HPV/沙眼衣原体合并感染女性中观察到的宫颈微生物多样性增加以及沙眼衣原体感染潜在微生物生物标志物的检测，将为创新方法开辟道路，这些方法可能有助于识别有合并感染风险的女性。
