Revealing the Disturbed Vaginal Micobiota Caused by Cervical Cancer Using High-Throughput Sequencing Technology

Abstract

Cervical cancer is the fourth most prevalent cancer type among all malignancies, so it is of great significance to find its actual pathogenesis mechanisms. In the present study, 90 women were enrolled, and high-throughput sequencing technology was firstly used to analyze the vaginal microbiota of healthy women (C group), cervical intraepithelial neoplasia patients (CIN group) and cervical cancer patients (CER group). Our results indicates that compared with C group, a higher HPV infection rate as well as increased Neutrophil ratio and tumor marker squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCCA) were obtained, and a decrease in Lymphocyte ratio and Hemoglobin were also present. In addition, the cervical cancer showed a strong association with reduced probiotics Lactobacillus, increased pathogens Prevotella spp., Sneathia spp. and Pseudomonas spp. These results prove that the immunological changes generated by the cervical cancer and the vaginal microbiota can interact with each other. However, further study investigating the key bacteria for cervical cancer is still needed, which can be a clue for the diagnosis or treatment of cervical cancer.