vaginal microbiome and epithelial gene array in post-menopausal women with moderate to severe dryness在绝经后的妇女阴道微生物和上皮基因阵列中度到重度的干燥.pdfVIP

Vaginal Microbiome and Epithelial Gene Array in Post- Menopausal Women with Moderate to Severe Dryness Ruben Hummelen1,2., Jean M. Macklaim1,3., Jordan E. Bisanz1,4., Jo-Anne Hammond1,5, Amy 1,4 6 6 1,3 1,4 McMillan , Rebecca Vongsa , David Koenig , Gregory B. Gloor , Gregor Reid * 1 Canadian Research Development Centre for Probiotics, Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Canada, 2 Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 3 Biochemistry, The University of Western Ontario, London, Canada, 4 Microbiology and Immunology, and Surgery, The University of Western Ontario, London, Canada, 5 Family Medicine, The University of Western Ontario, London, Canada, 6 Kimberly Clark Corporation, Corporate Research and Engineering-Microbial Control, Neenah, Wisconsin, United States of America Abstract After menopause, many women experience vaginal dryness and atrophy of tissue, often attributed to the loss of estrogen. An understudied aspect of vaginal health in women who experience dryness due to atrophy is the role of the resident microbes. It is known that the microbiota has an important role in healthy vaginal homeostasis, including maintaining the pH balance and excluding pathogens. The objectives of this study were twofold: first to identify the microbiome of post- menopausal women with and without vaginal dryness and symptoms of atrophy; and secondly to examine any differences in epithelial gene expression associated with atrophy. The vaginal microbiome of 32 post-menopausal women was profiled using Illumina sequencing of the V6 region of the 16S rRNA gene. Sixteen subjects were selected for follow-up sampling every tw