Correlation analysis between vaginal microbiota characteristics and peripheral blood immune factor levels in cervical lesions based on 16S rDNA sequencing
SUN Yan-ting
YANG Li-yun
CHENG Chen-chen
MENG Fei
LIU Shi-yu
WANG Juan
DING Hong-mei
ZHANG Hong
CHEN You-guo
ZHOU Jin-hua
SHEN Fang-rong
Abstract：Objective To investigate the effect of changes in vaginal microecology on the development of cervical lesions and their correlation with altered levels of peripheral blood immune factor expression.Methods 55 patients with varying degrees of cervical lesions who visited the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University from December 2022 to May 2023 were selected as the case group.And 20 patients with negative thinprep cytologic test(TCT)results and human papilloma virus(HPV)test results in the same period were served as the control group.Their vaginal secretions were taken for microbial 16S rDNA sequencing,and hematological samples were collected for immune cytokine testing to analyze and compare the vaginal microbiota and immune cytokine levels in each group.Results The vaginal microorganisms with the highest abundance at the phylum,species,and genus levels in each group were Firmicutes,Lactobacillus,and Lactobacillus iners,respectively(P＜0.05).By comparing the SqrtIVt values,it was found that Bifidobacterium shortum(0.39),Lactobacillus aboutloides(0.31)and Lactobacillus griseus(0.42)sqrtIVt values in the control group were higher than those in the cervical lesion group,suggesting that the three may serve as biomarkers for cervical lesions.In terms of peripheral blood immune factor expression levels,interleukin 2(IL-2)was negatively correlated with the relative abundance of clostridium spp,P＜0.05.With the aggravation of cervical lesions,the expression levels of interferon gamma(IFN-γ)and IL-2 gradually decreased,while the expression level of interleukin 2(IL-4)gradually increased,and the differences in the results were all statistically significant(P＜0.05).Conclusions The imbalance of the overall immune status of the body,including changes in the expression levels of peripheral blood immune factors IFN-γ and IL-2,may be closely related to the dysbiosis of the vaginal microbiota,thereby further promoting the occurrence and development of cervical lesions.Bifidobacterium breve,Lactobacillus johnsonii,and Lactobacillus gasseri may have a protective role in preventing and delaying cervical lesions,and can be used as potential biomarkers.
Keywords：vaginal microecologycervical lesionsimmune cytokines16S rDNAcervical cancerHPV infection
Publication Date：2025-02-01
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：6( 123-128 )