High risk HPV-positive women cervicovaginal microbial profiles in a Greek cohort: a retrospective analysis of the GRECOSELF study

Abstract

Increasing evidence supports a role for the vaginal microbiome (VM) in the severity of HPV infection and its potential link to cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. However, a lot remains unclear regarding the precise role of certain bacteria in the context of HPV positivity and persistence of infection. Here, using next generation sequencing (NGS), we comprehensively profiled the VM in a series of 877 women who tested positive for at least one high risk HPV (hrHPV) type with the COBAS® 4,800 assay, after self-collection of a cervico-vaginal sample. Starting from gDNA, we PCR amplified the V3–V4 region of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene and applied a paired-end NGS protocol (Illumina). We report significant differences in the abundance of certain bacteria compared among different HPV-types, more particularly concerning species assigned to Lacticaseibacillus, Megasphaera and Sneathia genera. Especially for Lacticaseibacillus, we observed significant depletion in the case of HPV16, HPV18 versus hrHPVother. Overall, our results suggest that the presence or absence of specific cervicovaginal microbial genera may be linked to the observed severity in hrHPV infection, particularly in the case of HPV16, 18 types.