Kaur Harrisham, Merchant Mitali, Haque Mohammed Monzoorul, Mande Sharmila S
Bio-Sciences R&D Division, TCS Research, Tata Consultancy Services, Pune, India.
Front Microbiol. 2020 Mar 31;11:551. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.00551. eCollection 2020.
Functional equilibrium between vaginal microbiota and the host is important for maintaining gynecological and reproductive health. Apart from host genetics, infections, changes in diet, life-style and hygiene status are known to affect this delicate state of equilibrium. More importantly, the gonadal hormones strongly influence the overall structure and function of vaginal microbiota. Several studies have attempted to understand (a) the composition of vaginal microbiota in specific stages of women's reproductive cycle as well as in menopause (b) their association with gonadal hormones, and their potential role in manifestation of specific health conditions (from the perspective of cause/consequence). However, a single study that places, in context, the structural variations of the vaginal microbiome across the entire life-span of women's reproductive cycle and during various stages of menopause is currently lacking. With the objective to obtain a holistic overview of the community dynamics of vaginal micro-environment 'across' various stages of women's reproductive and post-reproductive life-cycle, we have performed a meta-analysis of approximately 1,000 vaginal microbiome samples representing various stages of the reproductive cycle and menopausal states. Objectives of this analysis included (a) understanding temporal changes in vaginal community taxonomic structure and composition as women pass through various reproductive and menopausal stages (b) exploring correlations between the levels of female sex hormones with vaginal microbiome diversity (c) analyzing changes in the pattern of community diversity in cases of dysbiotic conditions such as bacterial vaginosis, and viewing the analyzed changes in the context of a healthy state. Results reveal interesting temporal trends with respect to vaginal microbial community diversity and its pattern of correlation with host physiology. Results indicate significant differences in alpha-diversity and overall vaginal microbial community members in various reproductive and post-reproductive phases. In addition to reinforcing the known influence/role of gonadal hormones in maintaining gynecological health, results indicate how hormonal level perturbations cause/contribute to imbalances in vaginal microbiota. The nature of resulting dysbiotic state and its influence on vaginal health is also analyzed and discussed. Results also suggest that elevated vaginal microbial diversity in pregnancy does not necessarily indicate a state of bacterial infection. The study puts forward a hormone-level driven microbiome diversity hypothesis for explaining temporal patterns in vaginal microbial diversity during various stages of women's reproductive cycle and at menopause.
阴道微生物群与宿主之间的功能平衡对于维持妇科和生殖健康至关重要。除了宿主基因外，感染、饮食变化、生活方式和卫生状况的改变也会影响这种微妙的平衡状态。更重要的是，性腺激素强烈影响阴道微生物群的整体结构和功能。多项研究试图了解：（a）女性生殖周期特定阶段以及绝经期间阴道微生物群的组成；（b）它们与性腺激素的关联，以及它们在特定健康状况表现中的潜在作用（从因果关系的角度）。然而，目前缺乏一项能将女性生殖周期整个寿命跨度以及绝经各阶段阴道微生物组的结构变化放在一起考量的研究。为了全面了解女性生殖和生殖后生命周期各阶段阴道微环境群落动态，我们对约1000份代表生殖周期各阶段和绝经状态的阴道微生物组样本进行了荟萃分析。该分析的目的包括：（a）了解女性经历不同生殖和绝经阶段时阴道群落分类结构和组成的时间变化；（b）探索女性性激素水平与阴道微生物群多样性之间的相关性；（c）分析诸如细菌性阴道病等生态失调状况下群落多样性模式的变化，并在健康状态背景下审视分析出的变化。结果揭示了阴道微生物群落多样性及其与宿主生理相关性模式方面有趣的时间趋势。结果表明，不同生殖和生殖后阶段的α多样性和整体阴道微生物群落成员存在显著差异。除了强化性腺激素在维持妇科健康方面已知的影响/作用外，结果还表明激素水平扰动如何导致/促成阴道微生物群失衡。还分析和讨论了由此产生的生态失调状态的性质及其对阴道健康的影响。结果还表明，孕期阴道微生物多样性升高不一定表明存在细菌感染状态。该研究提出了一种激素水平驱动的微生物群多样性假说，用于解释女性生殖周期各阶段和绝经期间阴道微生物多样性的时间模式。
