Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Rheumatology Division, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.
Center or Reproductive Health Sciences, Rheumatology Division, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.
J Infect Dis. 2019 Aug 30;220(7):1099-1108. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiy704.
Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a common imbalance of the vaginal microbiota characterized by overgrowth of diverse Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, and Gram-negative anaerobes. Women with BV are at increased risk of secondary reproductive tract infections and adverse pregnancy outcomes. However, which specific bacteria cause clinical features of BV is unclear.
We previously demonstrated that Gardnerella vaginalis could elicit many BV features in mice. In this study, we established a BV model in which we coinfected mice with G. vaginalis and another species commonly found in women with BV: Prevotella bivia.
This coinfection model recapitulates several aspects of human BV, including vaginal sialidase activity (a diagnostic BV feature independently associated with adverse outcomes), epithelial exfoliation, and ascending infection. It is notable that G. vaginalis facilitated uterine infection by P. bivia.
Taken together, our model provides a framework for advancing our understanding of the role of individual or combinations of BV-associated bacteria in BV pathogenesis.
细菌性阴道病（BV）是一种常见的阴道微生物群落失衡，其特征是多样性的放线菌、厚壁菌门和革兰氏阴性厌氧菌过度生长。患有 BV 的女性患继发性生殖道感染和不良妊娠结局的风险增加。然而，哪些特定的细菌会导致 BV 的临床特征尚不清楚。
我们之前证明，阴道加德纳菌可以在小鼠中引发许多 BV 特征。在这项研究中，我们建立了一种 BV 模型，将阴道加德纳菌和另一种在患有 BV 的女性中常见的物种共同感染小鼠：普雷沃氏菌。
这种共感染模型再现了人类 BV 的几个方面，包括阴道唾液酸酶活性（一种与不良结局独立相关的诊断性 BV 特征）、上皮细胞脱落和上行感染。值得注意的是，阴道加德纳菌促进了普雷沃氏菌对子宫的感染。
总的来说，我们的模型为深入了解 BV 相关细菌的个体或组合在 BV 发病机制中的作用提供了一个框架。
