Vaginal microecological characteristics and their correlation with high-risk HPV DNA load in patients with dif-ferent grades of cervical lesions
ZHANG Zi-gui
SONG Xiao-xia
XI Wei
ZHANG Jin-lei
FENG Lin-na
LIU Xiao-yan
Abstract：Objective To investigate the characteristics of the vaginal microbiota in patients with different grades of cervical lesions-cervical squamous cell carcinoma(CSCC),low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions(LSIL),and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions(HSIL)-and to analyze their correlation with high-risk human papilloma-virus(HR-HPV)DNA load.Methods A total of 300 patients were enrolled from January 2023 to December 2024 and categorized into LSIL,HSIL,and CSCC groups.Vaginal microbial composition was assessed via high-throughput se-quencing,and HR-HPV DNA load was simultaneously measured.Alpha diversity(Shannon index)and beta diversity metrics were used to evaluate microbial diversity.Spearman correlation analysis and multivariate regression models were applied to explore the relationships between HR-HPV DNA load and microbial abundance.Results In terms of micro-bial diversity,the LSIL group showed a significantly higher Shannon index compared to the HSIL and CSCC groups,indi-cating decreased microbial evenness with lesion progression.Regarding microbial composition,Lactobacillus abundance decreased from 60％to 20％,while Gardnerella and Prevotella increased from 10％and 5％to 40％and 30％,respec-tively.HR-HPV DNA load increased significantly with lesion severity and was negatively correlated with Lactobacillus(r=-0.45,P＜0.01)and positively correlated with Gardnerella(r=0.52,P＜0.01).Conclusion Vaginal microbi-ota dysbiosis is closely associated with HR-HPV infection and cervical lesion progression.Depletion of Lactobacillus and proliferation of pathogenic bacteria may promote lesion development by disrupting the local immune barrier and inducing inflammatory responses.Modulating the vaginal microbiota may offer a novel strategy for early prevention and intervention in cervical lesions.
Keywords：cervical squamous cell carcinomalow-grade squamous intraepithelial lesionhigh-grade squa-mous intraepithelial lesionvaginal microbiotahigh-risk HPV
Publication Date：2025-11-15
Online Publishing Date：2026-01-06(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：5( 1686-1690 )