Correlations between microbiota-derived metabolites and cervical precancerous lesions in women with HPV

Abstract

High-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) causes cervical squamous intraepithelial lesions and cervical cancer; however, only a small group of people infected with HR-HPV will develop cervical precancerous lesions or cervical cancer. Current studies have shown that an imbalance in the cervicovaginal flora may be one of the factors for persistent HR-HPV infection. Cervicovaginal secretions are easily accessible and may be advantageous tools for diagnosing risks for cervical cancer. Thus, in this pilot study we collected 156 cervicovaginal secretions of women with HPV infection with precancerous cervical lesions to determine whether microflora-derived metabolites present in the secretion can be used for assessing the risk of cervical cancer in patients. We performed 16S rRNA sequencing and metabolomic analyses to identify changes in the cervicovaginal flora and its metabolites in patients with HPV infection with different grades of cervical lesions. We detected 164 common known metabolites in the three groups of samples. There are significant differences in the metabolic patterns of cervical lesion groups with different degrees, and multiple metabolites are significantly related to the vaginal flora. Among them, the content of metabolites such as taurine, guanine, and uric acid are significantly different in patients with persistent HR-HPV infection with different degrees of cervical lesions. Taurine is positively correlated with Weissella, and negatively correlated with Corynebacterium. Related. Which may involve 7 related metabolic pathways. Metabolites such as taurine, guanine, and uric acid are closely related to the activation of the human immune system. Cervical vaginal flora can regulate the synthesis and decomposition of amino acids, purines, and uric acid, and may play a major role in activating inflammation and the immune system. These metabolisms It is worthy of further research to assess the risk of HR-HPV infection progressing to cervical cancer.