Comparative Analysis of Vaginal Microbiome Associated with Oncogenic HPV Infection Among Different Ethnic Groups of Women of the Eastern Region of India

Abstract

The study aimed to identify the influence of vaginal bacterial composition on HPV infection among tribal women of the eastern region of India compared to non-tribal women of the same region. For this study, 13 tribal women and 12 non-tribal women were recruited. DNA was isolated from vaginal swab samples, and subsequently, 16S rRNA gene analysis was performed. We identified two distinct clusters of samples based on taxonomic profiling and bacterial diversity. One cluster belonged to HPV negative samples and the other to HPV16/18 positive samples. The abundance of three bacterial species was significantly lower (p value < 0.05) among oncogenic HPV positive samples (mean abundance = 4.33, 0, and 0, respectively) compared to HPV negative samples (mean abundance = 29.71, 45.73, and 19.01, respectively) irrespective of their ethnicities, such as Lactobacillus amylolyticus, Bacillus coagulans, and Costridium sensu stricto. HPV16/18 positive samples also represent the differential microbiome composition between the two ethnic groups of women. Ethnicity specific variations in human vaginal microbiome composition might be recommended for geographically tailored microbiome-based therapeutic strategies.