Cervicovaginal bacteria are a major modulator of host inflammatory responses in the female genital tract.

ABSTRACT: Colonization by Lactobacillus in the female genital tract is thought to be critical for maintaining genital health. However, little is known about how genital microbiota influence host immune function and modulate disease susceptibility. We studied a cohort of asymptomatic young South African women and found that the majority of participants had genital communities with low Lactobacillus abundance and high ecological diversity. High-diversity communities strongly correlated with genital pro-inflammatory cytokine concentrations in both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. Transcriptional profiling suggested that genital antigen-presenting cells sense gram-negative bacterial products in situ via Toll-like receptor 4 signaling, contributing to genital inflammation through activation of

SUBMITTER: Anahtar MN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4461369 | biostudies-literature | 2015 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature