Diversity of cervicovaginal microbiome among HPV-positive versus HPV-negative women of Sub-Himalayan region of India.

PURPOSE: Recent studies from Western countries suggest an association between cervicovaginal microbiome (CVM) and HPV persistence. This study aims to identify CVM diversity within HPV-negative/positive women and to establish an association between HPV infection and CVM in Indian women.

METHODS

This was a pilot, hospital-based, prospective study conducted at a tertiary care center in India over 6 months. Seventy-two participants underwent HPV genotyping, yielding 20 HPV-positive samples. Of these, 16 samples with good-quality DNA, along with 16 matched HPV-negative samples, were identified for CVM analysis.

RESULTS

Sequencing of bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA region and bioinformatic analysis were performed in 32 samples. Baseline characteristics were similar for HPV-positive and HPV-negative women. Out of 16 HPV-positive women, 9 had HPV-16 genotype, one had HPV-16&18, and 6 had other genotypes. Seven patients had cervical cancer on histopathology, 7 had NILM, 1-ASCUS, and 1-ASC-H on cytology. HPV-negative women's CVM had a larger abundance of lactobacillus species than HPV-positive women (43.24% vs 2.44%). Whereas CVM among HPV-positive women was characterized by a greater abundance of anaerobes, such as Prevotella (12.46% vs. 4.59%), Atopobium (6.66% vs. 1.98%), Anaerococcus (5.27% vs. 0.57%), and Porphyromonas (2.98% vs. 0.67%), compared with HPV-negative women.

CONCLUSION

The current study from the Sub-Himalayan region of India characterizes the diversity of CVM in HPV-positive and HPV-negative women. This makes a significant geographical contribution to vaginal microbiome research worldwide.