背景:硬化性苔藓(LS)是一种慢性,自身免疫性皮肤病主要位于女性的肛门生殖器区域。近年来,人类微生物群在自身免疫性疾病发病机理中的作用,包括LS,收到了兴趣。
目的:该研究旨在评估和比较尿液的成分,与未受影响的对照组相比,患有LS的女性的阴道和肠道微生物群。
方法:被诊断为LS的女性(n=16)和匹配的对照组(n=14)被纳入研究。每个参与者,中游尿液,上下阴道拭子,以及粪便样本,被收集。使用V4高变区的16S核糖体RNA(rRNA)基因测序评估微生物群组成。
结果:我们在四个解剖壁龛中都没有观察到LS特异性聚类,使用层次聚类分析或加权β多样性指标。然而,对于未加权的UniFrac,当将患有LS的女性与对照组进行比较时,观察到泌尿和下阴道微生物群存在显著差异.这些发现表明,虽然这两个群体的微生物群以相同的细菌为主,变异确实发生在数量较少的细菌中。LEfSe分析显示,与对照组相比,LS女性的泌尿和下阴道微生物群中链球菌属的相对丰度更高。此外,与对照组相比,在患有LS的女性的肠道微生物群中观察到更高的Euryarchaeota门相对丰度。
结论:在这项研究中,我们证明了尿液中不那么丰富的细菌之间的几个差异,将LS女性与对照组进行比较时,阴道和粪便微生物区系较低。然而,需要进一步的研究来评估这些微生物群差异是致病的还是仅仅是潜在LS疾病的结果.
BACKGROUND: Lichen sclerosus (LS) is a chronic, autoimmune skin disease predominantly located in the anogenital region in women. In recent years, the role of the human microbiota in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases, including LS, has received interest.
OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to evaluate and compare the composition of the urinary, vaginal and gut microbiota in women with LS versus non-affected controls.
METHODS: Women diagnosed with LS (n = 16) and matched controls (n = 14) were enrolled in the study. From each participant, midstream urine, upper and lower vaginal swabs, as well as faecal samples, were collected. The microbiota composition was assessed using 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequencing of the V4 hypervariable region.
RESULTS: We observed no LS-specific clustering in either of the four anatomic niches, using either hierarchical cluster analysis or weighted beta diversity metrics. However, for unweighted UniFrac, significant differences in the urinary and lower vaginal microbiota were observed when comparing women with LS to controls. These findings indicate that while the two groups have microbiota dominated by the same bacteria, variations do occur amongst less abundant bacteria. The LEfSe analysis revealed a higher relative abundance of the genus Streptococcus in the urinary and lower vaginal microbiota in women with LS compared to controls. Additionally, a higher relative abundance of phylum Euryarchaeota was observed in the gut microbiota in women with LS compared to controls.
CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we demonstrated several differences amongst less abundant bacteria in the urinary, lower vaginal and faecal microbiota when comparing women with LS to controls. However, further research is required to assess whether these microbiota differences are causative or merely a result of the underlying LS disease.