Vaginal Microbiota and Mucosal Immune Markers in Women With Vulvovaginal Discomfort.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Up to 30% of women with vaginal symptoms are not assigned a diagnosis after standard diagnostic assessment.

Methods

We compared premenopausal women with idiopathic vaginitis (IV) or vulvodynia (VVD) to healthy controls. Microbiota were characterized using rRNA sequencing. Cytokines/chemokines (IL-10, IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-2, IL-18, IL-4, IL-9, and IL-13) were measured in vaginal lavage fluid using the Meso Scale Discovery platform or ELISA (IL-1ra). Immunoglobulins were measured in vaginal lavage fluid using a bead-based immunoassay (Millipore). Cases and controls were compared using Kruskal-Wallis, analysis of variance, and linear regression or (for microbiome composition) the Bray-Curtis dissimilarity statistic.

Results

We compared 20 women with IV

SUBMITTER: Mitchell CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7071966 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature