Myometrial Microbiota in Uterine Fibroids: Functional Dysbiosis versus Taxonomic Stability

ABSTRACT: Uterine fibroid (UF) is the most common benign tumor in women but the impact of the myometrial microbiota (MM) remains poorly defined. We characterized paired MM of uterine fibroid and adjacent healthy myometrium (HM) from women undergoing surgery (n = 21) and integrated serum free fatty acids (FFAs) and cytokine profiling. Microbial diversity and taxonomic composition were highly similar between UF and HT, with no differentially abundant taxa after multiple-testing correction. Within this stable structure, Acinetobacter was prominent in HM, whereas the Lachnospiraceae NK4A136 group showed relative enrichment in UF. In contrast, functional inference revealed clear tissue-specific differences: UF was enriched in pathways related to L-tyrosine biosynthesis and aromatic amine degradation, while HM displayed higher predicted coenzyme A and arginine biosynthesis. Moreover, the UF patients exhibited distinct serum FFA signatures compared with healthy woman controls. Although cytokine levels were comparable across clinical subgroups, integrative analyses identified tissue- and phenotype-specific associations linking microbial taxa, FFAs and inflammatory mediators, mainly in UF patients with heavy menstrual bleeding or specific fibroid localizations. In sum, UF is characterized by functional rather than compositional myometrial microbiota alterations, suggesting a context-dependent microbiota–immune–metabolic axis in fibroid biology and supporting the need for longitudinal, multi-omics studies to finely clarify the MM functional pathways in disease development.

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

PROVIDER: GSE316107 | GEO | 2026/09/17

REPOSITORIES: GEO