Intestinal microbiota controls graft-versus-host disease independent of donor-host genetic disparity.

Acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) remains a major limitation of allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT), and severe intestinal manifestation is the major cause of early mortality. Intestinal microbiota control MHC class II (MHC-II) expression by ileal intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) that promote GVHD. Here, we demonstrated that genetically identical mice of differing vendor origins had markedly different intestinal microbiota and ileal MHC-II expression, resulting in discordant GVHD severity. We utilized cohousing and antibiotic treatment to characterize the bacterial taxa positively and negatively associated with MHC-II expression. A large proportion of bacterial MHC-II inducers were vancomycin sensitive, and peri-transplant oral vancomycin administration attenuated CD4+ T cell-mediated GVHD. We identified a similar relationship between pre-transplant microbes, HLA class II expression, and both GVHD and mortality in a large clinical SCT cohort. These data highlight therapeutically tractable mechanisms by which pre-transplant microbial taxa contribute to GVHD independently of genetic disparity.

Gardnerella Species and Their Association With Bacterial Vaginosis.

BACKGROUND: Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a condition marked by high vaginal bacterial diversity. Gardnerella vaginalis has been implicated in BV but is also detected in healthy women. The Gardnerella genus has been expanded to encompass 6 validly named species and several genomospecies. We hypothesized that particular Gardnerella species may be more associated with BV. METHODS: Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays were developed targeting the cpn60 gene of species groups including G. vaginalis, G. piotii/pickettii, G. swidsinskii/greenwoodii, and G. leopoldii. These assays were applied to vaginal swabs from individuals with (n = 101) and without BV (n = 150) attending a sexual health clinic in Seattle, Washington. Weekly swabs were collected from 42 participants for up to 12 weeks. RESULTS: Concentrations and prevalence of each Gardnerella species group were significantly higher in participants with BV; 91.1% of BV-positive participants had 3 or more Gardnerella species groups detected compared to 32.0% of BV-negative participants (P < .0001). BV-negative participants with 3 or more species groups detected were more likely to develop BV within 100 days versus those with fewer (60.5% vs 3.7%, P < .0001). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that BV reflects a state of high Gardnerella species diversity. No Gardnerella species group was a specific marker for BV.

IgA coating of vaginal bacteria is reduced in the setting of bacterial vaginosis (BV) and preferentially targets BV-associated species.

Immunoglobulin (Ig) bacterial coating has been described in the gastrointestinal tract and linked to inflammatory bowel disease; however, little is known about Ig coating of vaginal bacteria and whether it plays a role in vaginal health including bacterial vaginosis (BV). We examined Ig coating in 18 women with symptomatic BV followed longitudinally before, 1 week, and 1 month after oral metronidazole treatment. Immunoglobulin A (IgA) and/or immunoglobulin G (IgG) coating of vaginal bacteria was assessed by flow cytometry, and Ig coated and uncoated bacteria were sorted and characterized using 16S rRNA sequencing. Despite higher levels of IgG compared to IgA in cervicovaginal fluid, the predominant Ig coating the bacteria was IgA. The majority of bacteria were uncoated at all visits, but IgA coating significantly increased after treatment for BV. Despite similar amounts of uncoated and IgA coated majority taxa ( >1% total) across all visits, there was preferential IgA coating of minority taxa (0.2%-1% total) associated with BV including Sneathia, several Prevotella species, and others. At the time of BV, we identified a principal component (PC) driven by proinflammatory mediators that correlated positively with an uncoated BV-associated bacterial community and negatively with an IgA coated protective Lactobacillus bacterial community. The preferential coating of BV-associated species, increase in coating following metronidazole treatment, and positive correlation between uncoated BV-associated species and inflammation suggest that coating may represent a host mechanism designed to limit bacterial diversity and reduce inflammatory responses. Elucidating the role of Ig coating in vaginal mucosal immunity may promote new strategies to prevent recurrent BV.

The Relationship Between Insertive Oral and Anal Sex and Select Measures of the Composition of the Urethral Microbiota Among Men Who Have Sex With Men.

BACKGROUND: Sexual behavior may influence the composition of the male urethral microbiota, but this hypothesis has not been tested in longitudinal studies of men who have sex with men (MSM). METHODS: From December 2014 to July 2018, we enrolled MSM with nongonococcal urethritis (NGU) attending a sexual health clinic. Men attended 5 in-clinic visits at 3-week intervals, collected weekly urine specimens at home, and reported daily antibiotics and sexual activity on weekly diaries. We applied broad-range 16S rRNA gene sequencing to urine. We used generalized estimating equations to estimate the association between urethral sexual exposures in the prior 7 days (insertive oral sex [IOS] only, condomless insertive anal intercourse [CIAI] only, IOS with CIAI [IOS + CIAI], or none) and Shannon index, number of species (observed, oral indicator, and rectal indicator), and specific taxa, adjusting for recent antibiotics, age, race/ethnicity, HIV, and preexposure prophylaxis. RESULTS: Ninety-six of 108 MSM with NGU attended ≥1 follow-up visit. They contributed 1140 person-weeks of behavioral data and 1006 urine specimens. Compared with those with no urethral sexual exposures, those with IOS only had higher Shannon index ( P = 0.03 ) but similar number of species and presence of specific taxa considered, adjusting for confounders; the exception was an association with Haemophilus parainfluenzae . CIAI only was not associated with measured aspects of the urethral microbiota. IOS + CIAI was only associated with presence of H. parainfluenzae and Haemophilus . CONCLUSIONS: Among MSM after NGU, IOS and CIAI did not seem to have a substantial influence on measured aspects of the composition of the urethral microbiota.

A prospective cohort study examining the association between the periconceptual vaginal microbiota and first-trimester miscarriage in Kenyan women.

BACKGROUND: Studies evaluating the association between the vaginal microbiota and miscarriage have produced variable results. OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the association between periconceptual and first-trimester vaginal microbiota and women's risk for miscarriage. METHODS: At monthly preconception visits and at 9-12 weeks gestation, women collected vaginal swabs for molecular characterisation of the vaginal microbiota. Participants who became pregnant were followed to identify miscarriage versus pregnancy continuing to at least 20 weeks gestation. RESULTS: Forty-five women experienced miscarriage and 144 had pregnancies continuing to ≥20 weeks. A principal component analysis of periconceptual and first-trimester vaginal bacteria identified by 16S rRNA gene PCR with next-generation sequencing did not identify distinct bacterial communities with miscarriage versus continuing pregnancy. Using taxon-directed quantitative PCR assays, increasing concentrations of Megasphaera hutchinsoni, Mageeibacillus indolicus, Mobiluncus mulieris and Sneathia sanguinegens/vaginalis were not associated with miscarriage. In exploratory analyses, these data were examined as a binary exposure to allow for multivariable modelling. Detection of Mobiluncus mulieris in first-trimester samples was associated with miscarriage (adjusted relative risk [aRR] 2.14, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.08, 4.22). Additional analyses compared women with early first-trimester miscarriage (range 4.7-7.3 weeks) to women with continuing pregnancies. Mobiluncus mulieris was detected in all eight (100%) first-trimester samples from women with early first-trimester miscarriage compared to 101/192 (52.6%) samples from women with continuing pregnancy (model did not converge). Detection of Mageeibacillus indolicus in first-trimester samples was also associated with early first-trimester miscarriage (aRR 4.10, 95% CI 1.17, 14.31). CONCLUSIONS: The primary analyses in this study demonstrated no association between periconceptual or first-trimester vaginal microbiota and miscarriage. Exploratory analyses showing strong associations between first-trimester detection of Mobiluncus mulieris and Mageeibacillus indolicus and early first-trimester miscarriage suggest the need for future studies to determine if these findings are reproducible.

Changes in Vaginal Bacteria and Inflammatory Mediators From Periconception Through the Early Postpartum Period in a Cohort of Kenyan Women Without HIV.

BACKGROUND: Women's increased risk of HIV acquisition during pregnancy and postpartum may be mediated by changes in vaginal microbiota and/or cytokines. METHODS: A cohort of 80 Kenyan women who were HIV-1 seronegative contributed 409 vaginal samples at 6 pregnancy time points: periconception, positive pregnancy test result, first trimester, second trimester, third trimester, and postpartum. Concentrations of vaginal bacteria linked with HIV risk and Lactobacillus spp were measured using quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Cytokines were measured by immunoassay. RESULTS: Based on Tobit regression, later pregnancy time points were associated with lower concentrations of Sneathia spp (P = .01), Eggerthella sp type 1 (P = .002), and Parvimonas sp type 2 (P = .02) and higher concentrations of Lactobacillus iners (P < .001), Lactobacillus crispatus (P < .001), Lactobacillus vaginalis (P < .001), interleukin 6 (P < .001), TNF (P = .004), C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 10 (CXCL10; P < .001), C-C motif ligand 3 (P = .009), C-C motif ligand 4 (P < .001), C-C motif ligand 5 (P = .002), interleukin 1ß (P = .02), and interleukin 8 (P = .002). Most cervicovaginal cytokines and vaginal bacteria clustered separately in principal component analysis, except for CXCL10, which did not group with either cytokines or bacteria. The shift toward a Lactobacillus-dominated microbiota during pregnancy mediated the relationship between pregnancy time point and CXCL10. CONCLUSIONS: Increases in proinflammatory cytokines, but not vaginal bacterial taxa linked with higher HIV risk, could provide an explanation for increased HIV susceptibility during pregnancy and postpartum.

Vaginal and Extra-Vaginal Bacterial Colonization and Risk for Incident Bacterial Vaginosis in a Population of Women Who Have Sex With Men.

BACKGROUND: Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a common cause of vaginal discharge and associated with vaginal acquisition of BV-associated bacteria (BVAB). METHODS: We used quantitative polymerase chain reaction assays to determine whether presence or concentrations of BVAB in the mouth, anus, vagina, or labia before BV predict risk of incident BV in 72 women who have sex with men. RESULTS: Baseline vaginal and extra-vaginal colonization with Gardnerella spp, Megasphaera spp, Sneathia spp, BVAB-2, Dialister sp type 2, and other BVAB was more common among subjects with incident BV. CONCLUSIONS: Prior colonization with BVAB is a consistent risk for BV.

Bacterial Communities Associated With Abnormal Nugent Score in Postmenopausal Versus Premenopausal Women.

The Nugent score is the reference standard for bacterial vaginosis (BV) diagnosis but has not been validated in postmenopausal women. We compared relative abundances from 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing of vaginal microbiota with Nugent score in cohorts of premenopausal (n = 220) and postmenopausal (n = 144) women. In premenopausal women, 33 taxa were significantly correlated with Nugent score, including the classic BV-associated taxa Gardnerella, Atopobium, Sneathia, Megasphaera, and Prevotella. In postmenopausal women, 11 taxa were significantly associated with Nugent score, including Prevotella but no other BV-associated genera. High Nugent scores should not be used to infer BV in postmenopausal women.

Urethral Microbiota in Men: Association of Haemophilus influenzae and Mycoplasma penetrans With Nongonococcal Urethritis.

BACKGROUND: Nongonococcal urethritis (NGU) is a common syndrome with no known etiology in ≤50% of cases. We estimated associations between urethral bacteria and NGU in men who have sex with men (MSM) and men who have sex with women (MSW). METHODS: Urine was collected from NGU cases (129 MSM, 121 MSW) and controls (70 MSM, 114 MSW) attending a Seattle STD clinic. Cases had ≥5 polymorphonuclear leukocytes on Gram stain plus symptoms or discharge; controls had <5 PMNs, no symptoms, no discharge. NGU was considered idiopathic when Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Chlamydia trachomatis, Mycoplasma genitalium, Trichomonas vaginalis, adenovirus, and herpes simplex virus were absent. The urethral microbiota was characterized using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Compositional lasso analysis was conducted to identify associations between bacterial taxa and NGU and to select bacteria for targeted qPCR. RESULTS: Among NGU cases, 45.2% were idiopathic. Based on compositional lasso analysis, we selected Haemophilus influenzae (HI) and Mycoplasma penetrans (MP) for targeted qPCR. Compared with 182 men without NGU, the 249 men with NGU were more likely to have HI (14% vs 2%) and MP (21% vs 1%) (both P ≤ .001). In stratified analyses, detection of HI was associated with NGU among MSM (12% vs 3%, P = .036) and MSW (17% vs 1%, P < .001), but MP was associated with NGU only among MSM (13% vs 1%, P = .004). Associations were stronger in men with idiopathic NGU. CONCLUSIONS: HI and MP are potential causes of male urethritis. MP was more often detected among MSM than MSW with urethritis.

Association between postmenopausal vulvovaginal discomfort, vaginal microbiota, and mucosal inflammation.

BACKGROUND: Half of all postmenopausal women report symptoms of vulvar, vaginal, or urinary discomfort with substantial impact on sexual function and quality of life; underlying mechanisms leading to symptoms are poorly understood. OBJECTIVE: To examine the possibility that the vaginal microbiota and/or mucosal immune response contributes to the severity of bothersome vaginal symptoms, we conducted a substudy of samples from a randomized trial of vaginal treatment for genitourinary syndrome of menopause to compare these features between women whose symptoms improved and women whose symptoms did not improve. STUDY DESIGN: This is a secondary analysis of samples collected in a 12-week randomized trial of treatment with vaginal estradiol or moisturizer vs placebo for moderate-severe postmenopausal symptoms of vaginal discomfort. We randomly selected 20 women in each arm with ≥2-point decrease in most bothersome symptom severity (responders) and 20 matched controls with ≤1-point decrease (nonresponders). At 0, 4, and 12 weeks, we characterized vaginal microbiota (16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing), vaginal fluid metabolites (broad-based metabolomic profiling), vaginal fluid-soluble immune markers (Meso Scale Discovery), pH, and vaginal maturation index. We compared responders with nonresponders at baseline and across all visits using linear mixed models to evaluate associations with microbiota, metabolites, and immune markers, incorporating visit and participant-specific random effects while controlling for treatment arm. RESULTS: Here, the mean age of women was 61 years (n=120), and most women (92%) were White. At enrollment, no significant differences were observed between responders and nonresponders in age, most bothersome symptom type or severity, microbiota composition or diversity, Lactobacillus dominance, metabolome, or immune markers. There was a significant decrease in diversity of the vaginal microbiota in both responders and nonresponders (P<.001) over 12 weeks. Although this change did not differ by responder status, diversity was associated with treatment arm: more women in the estradiol arm (63%) had Lactobacillus-dominant, lower diversity bacterial communities than women in the moisturizer (35%) or dual placebo (23%) arms (P=.001) at 12 weeks. The metabolome, vaginal maturation index, and measured immune markers were not associated with responder status over the 12 weeks but varied by treatment arm. CONCLUSION: Postmenopausal vaginal symptom severity was not significantly associated with vaginal microbiota or mucosal inflammatory markers in this small study. Women receiving vaginal estradiol experienced greater abundance of lactobacilli and lower vaginal pH at end of treatment.

Deep sequencing of HIV-infected cells: insights into nascent transcription and host-directed therapy.

UNLABELLED: Polyadenylated mature mRNAs are the focus of standard transcriptome analyses. However, the profiling of nascent transcripts, which often include nonpolyadenylated RNAs, can unveil novel insights into transcriptional regulation. Here, we separately sequenced total RNAs (Total RNAseq) and mRNAs (mRNAseq) from the same HIV-1-infected human CD4(+) T cells. We found that many nonpolyadenylated RNAs were differentially expressed upon HIV-1 infection, and we identified 8 times more differentially expressed genes at 12 h postinfection by Total RNAseq than by mRNAseq. These expression changes were also evident by concurrent changes in introns and were recapitulated by later mRNA changes, revealing an unexpectedly significant delay between transcriptional initiation and mature mRNA production early after HIV-1 infection. We computationally derived and validated the underlying regulatory programs, and we predicted drugs capable of reversing these HIV-1-induced expression changes followed by experimental confirmation. Our results show that combined total and mRNA transcriptome analysis is essential for fully capturing the early host response to virus infection and provide a framework for identifying candidate drugs for host-directed therapy against HIV/AIDS. IMPORTANCE: In this study, we used mass sequencing to identify genes differentially expressed in CD4(+) T cells during HIV-1 infection. To our surprise, we found many differentially expressed genes early after infection by analyzing both newly transcribed unprocessed pre-mRNAs and fully processed mRNAs, but not by analyzing mRNAs alone, indicating a significant delay between transcription initiation and mRNA production early after HIV-1 infection. These results also show that important findings could be missed by the standard practice of analyzing mRNAs alone. We then derived the regulatory mechanisms driving the observed expression changes using integrative computational analyses. Further, we predicted drugs that could reverse the observed expression changes induced by HIV-1 infection and showed that one of the predicted drugs indeed potently inhibited HIV-1 infection. This shows that it is possible to identify candidate drugs for host-directed therapy against HIV/AIDS using our genomics-based approach.

A systems biology approach reveals that tissue tropism to West Nile virus is regulated by antiviral genes and innate immune cellular processes.

The actions of the RIG-I like receptor (RLR) and type I interferon (IFN) signaling pathways are essential for a protective innate immune response against the emerging flavivirus West Nile virus (WNV). In mice lacking RLR or IFN signaling pathways, WNV exhibits enhanced tissue tropism, indicating that specific host factors of innate immune defense restrict WNV infection and dissemination in peripheral tissues. However, the immune mechanisms by which the RLR and IFN pathways coordinate and function to impart restriction of WNV infection are not well defined. Using a systems biology approach, we defined the host innate immune response signature and actions that restrict WNV tissue tropism. Transcriptional profiling and pathway modeling to compare WNV-infected permissive (spleen) and nonpermissive (liver) tissues showed high enrichment for inflammatory responses, including pattern recognition receptors and IFN signaling pathways, that define restriction of WNV replication in the liver. Assessment of infected livers from Mavs(-/-) × Ifnar(-/-) mice revealed the loss of expression of several key components within the natural killer (NK) cell signaling pathway, including genes associated with NK cell activation, inflammatory cytokine production, and NK cell receptor signaling. In vivo analysis of hepatic immune cell infiltrates from WT mice demonstrated that WNV infection leads to an increase in NK cell numbers with enhanced proliferation, maturation, and effector action. In contrast, livers from Mavs(-/-) × Ifnar(-/-) infected mice displayed reduced immune cell infiltration, including a significant reduction in NK cell numbers. Analysis of cocultures of dendritic and NK cells revealed both cell-intrinsic and -extrinsic roles for the RLR and IFN signaling pathways to regulate NK cell effector activity. Taken together, these observations reveal a complex innate immune signaling network, regulated by the RLR and IFN signaling pathways, that drives tissue-specific antiviral effector gene expression and innate immune cellular processes that control tissue tropism to WNV infection.

Identification of fallopian tube microbiota and its association with ovarian cancer.

Investigating the human fallopian tube (FT) microbiota has significant implications for understanding the pathogenesis of ovarian cancer (OC). In this large prospective study, we collected swabs intraoperatively from the FT and other surgical sites as controls to profile the microbiota in the FT and to assess its relationship with OC. Eighty-one OC and 106 non-cancer patients were enrolled and 1001 swabs were processed for 16S rRNA gene PCR and sequencing. We identified 84 bacterial species that may represent the FT microbiota and found a clear shift in the microbiota of the OC patients when compared to the non-cancer patients. Of the top 20 species that were most prevalent in the FT of OC patients, 60% were bacteria that predominantly reside in the gastrointestinal tract, while 30% normally reside in the mouth. Serous carcinoma had higher prevalence of almost all 84 FT bacterial species compared to the other OC subtypes. The clear shift in the FT microbiota in OC patients establishes the scientific foundation for future investigation into the role of these bacteria in the pathogenesis of OC.

Isoflavone agonists of IRF-3 dependent signaling have antiviral activity against RNA viruses.

There is a growing need for novel antiviral therapies that are broad spectrum, effective, and not subject to resistance due to viral mutations. Using high-throughput screening methods, including computational docking studies and an interferon-stimulated gene 54 (ISG54)-luciferase reporter assay, we identified a class of isoflavone compounds that act as specific agonists of innate immune signaling pathways and cause activation of the interferon regulatory factor (IRF-3) transcription factor. The isoflavone compounds activated the ISG54 promoter, mediated nuclear translocation of IRF-3, and displayed highly potent activity against hepatitis C virus (HCV) and influenza virus. Additionally, these agonists efficiently activated IRF-3 in the presence of the HCV protease NS3-4A, which is known to blunt the host immune response. Furthermore, genomic studies showed that discrete innate immune pathways centered on IRF signaling were regulated following agonist treatment without causing global changes in host gene expression. Following treatment, the expression of only 64 cellular genes was significantly induced. This report provides the first evidence that innate immune pathways dependent on IRF-3 can be successfully targeted by small-molecule drugs for the development of novel broad-spectrum antiviral compounds.

Early transcriptional programming links progression to hepatitis C virus-induced severe liver disease in transplant patients.

UNLABELLED: Liver failure resulting from chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major cause for liver transplantation worldwide. Recurrent infection of the graft is universal in HCV patients after transplant and results in a rapid progression to severe fibrosis and end-stage liver disease in one third of all patients. No single clinical variable, or combination thereof, has, so far, proven accurate in identifying patients at risk of hepatic decompensation in the transplant setting. A combination of longitudinal, dimensionality reduction and categorical analysis of the transcriptome from 111 liver biopsy specimens taken from 57 HCV-infected patients over time identified a molecular signature of gene expression of patients at risk of developing severe fibrosis. Significantly, alterations in gene expression occur before histologic evidence of liver disease progression, suggesting that events that occur during the acute phase of infection influence patient outcome. Additionally, a common precursor state for different severe clinical outcomes was identified. CONCLUSION: Based on this patient cohort, incidence of severe liver disease is a process initiated early during HCV infection of the donor organ. The probable cellular network at the basis of the initial transition to severe liver disease was identified and characterized.

Proteome and computational analyses reveal new insights into the mechanisms of hepatitis C virus-mediated liver disease posttransplantation.

UNLABELLED: Liver transplant tissues offer the unique opportunity to model the longitudinal protein abundance changes occurring during hepatitis C virus (HCV)-associated liver disease progression in vivo. In this study, our goal was to identify molecular signatures, and potential key regulatory proteins, representative of the processes influencing early progression to fibrosis. We performed global protein profiling analyses on 24 liver biopsy specimens obtained from 15 HCV(+) liver transplant recipients at 6 and/or 12 months posttransplantation. Differentially regulated proteins associated with early progression to fibrosis were identified by analysis of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve. Analysis of serum metabolites was performed on samples obtained from an independent cohort of 60 HCV(+) liver transplant patients. Computational modeling approaches were applied to identify potential key regulatory proteins of liver fibrogenesis. Among 4,324 proteins identified, 250 exhibited significant differential regulation in patients with rapidly progressive fibrosis. Patients with rapid fibrosis progression exhibited enrichment in differentially regulated proteins associated with various immune, hepatoprotective, and fibrogenic processes. The observed increase in proinflammatory activity and impairment in antioxidant defenses suggests that patients who develop significant liver injury experience elevated oxidative stresses. This was supported by an independent study demonstrating the altered abundance of oxidative stress-associated serum metabolites in patients who develop severe liver injury. Computational modeling approaches further highlight a potentially important link between HCV-associated oxidative stress and epigenetic regulatory mechanisms impacting on liver fibrogenesis. CONCLUSION: Our proteome and metabolome analyses provide new insights into the role for increased oxidative stress in the rapid fibrosis progression observed in HCV(+) liver transplant recipients. These findings may prove useful in prognostic applications for predicting early progression to fibrosis.

Identification of fallopian tube microbiota and its association with ovarian cancer: a prospective study of intraoperative swab collections from 187 patients.

Investigating the human fallopian tube (FT) microbiota has significant implications for understanding the pathogenesis of ovarian cancer (OC). In this large prospective study, we collected swabs intraoperatively from the FT and other surgical sites as controls to profile the microbiota in the FT and to assess its relationship with OC. 81 OC and 106 non-cancer patients were enrolled and 1001 swabs were processed for 16S rRNA gene PCR and sequencing. We identified 84 bacterial species that may represent the FT microbiota and found a clear shift in the microbiota of the OC patients when compared to the non-cancer patients. Of the top 20 species that were most prevalent in the FT of OC patients, 60% were bacteria that predominantly reside in the gastrointestinal tract, while 30% normally reside in the mouth. Serous carcinoma had higher prevalence of almost all 84 FT bacterial species compared to the other OC subtypes. The clear shift in the FT microbiota in OC patients establishes the scientific foundation for future investigation into the role of these bacteria in the pathogenesis of ovarian cancer. .

Genital Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2 Suppression With Valacyclovir Is Not Associated With Changes in Nugent Score or Absolute Abundance of Key Vaginal Bacteria.

Background: In women, genital herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) infection is associated with increased risk for recurrent bacterial vaginosis (BV), but causal relationships are unclear. Methods: Women with a self-reported history of BV and HSV-2 seropositivity self-collected vaginal and anogenital swabs for 2 nonconsecutive 28-day periods, in the absence or presence of valacyclovir suppressive therapy (500 mg daily). HSV polymerase chain reaction was performed on anogenital swabs; vaginal swabs were used for assessment of BV by Nugent score and quantification of vaginal microbiota. Days with BV, defined by Nugent score ≥7, were compared during the observational period and valacyclovir treatment. Results: Forty-one women collected swabs for a median of 28 days (range, 20-32 days) each study period. The HSV-2 shedding rate decreased from 109 of 1126 days (9.7%) presuppression to 6 of 1125 days (0.05%) during valacyclovir (rate ratio [RR], 0.06 [95% confidence interval {CI}, .02-.13]). BV occurred on 343 of 1103 days (31.1%) during observation and 302 of 1091 days (27.7%) during valacyclovir (RR, 0.90 [95% CI, .68-1.20]). The median per-person Nugent score was 3.8 during observation and 4.0 during valacyclovir. Average log10 concentrations of vaginal bacterial species did not change significantly during valacyclovir treatment. Conclusions: Short-term HSV-2 suppression with valacyclovir did not significantly affect the Nugent score or the vaginal microbiome despite potent suppression of HSV-2 shedding.

Optimizing metaproteomics database construction: lessons from a study of the vaginal microbiome.

Metaproteomics, a method for untargeted, high-throughput identification of proteins in complex samples, provides functional information about microbial communities and can tie functions to specific taxa. Metaproteomics often generates less data than other omics techniques, but analytical workflows can be improved to increase usable data in metaproteomic outputs. Identification of peptides in the metaproteomic analysis is performed by comparing mass spectra of sample peptides to a reference database of protein sequences. Although these protein databases are an integral part of the metaproteomic analysis, few studies have explored how database composition impacts peptide identification. Here, we used cervicovaginal lavage (CVL) samples from a study of bacterial vaginosis (BV) to compare the performance of databases built using six different strategies. We evaluated broad versus sample-matched databases, as well as databases populated with proteins translated from metagenomic sequencing of the same samples versus sequences from public repositories. Smaller sample-matched databases performed significantly better, driven by the statistical constraints on large databases. Additionally, large databases attributed up to 34% of significant bacterial hits to taxa absent from the sample, as determined orthogonally by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We also tested a set of hybrid databases which included bacterial proteins from NCBI RefSeq and translated bacterial genes from the samples. These hybrid databases had the best overall performance, identifying 1,068 unique human and 1,418 unique bacterial proteins, ~30% more than a database populated with proteins from typical vaginal bacteria and fungi. Our findings can help guide the optimal identification of proteins while maintaining statistical power for reaching biological conclusions. IMPORTANCE Metaproteomic analysis can provide valuable insights into the functions of microbial and cellular communities by identifying a broad, untargeted set of proteins. The databases used in the analysis of metaproteomic data influence results by defining what proteins can be identified. Moreover, the size of the database impacts the number of identifications after accounting for false discovery rates (FDRs). Few studies have tested the performance of different strategies for building a protein database to identify proteins from metaproteomic data and those that have largely focused on highly diverse microbial communities. We tested a range of databases on CVL samples and found that a hybrid sample-matched approach, using publicly available proteins from organisms present in the samples, as well as proteins translated from metagenomic sequencing of the samples, had the best performance. However, our results also suggest that public sequence databases will continue to improve as more bacterial genomes are published.

Host regulatory network response to infection with highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus.

During the last decade, more than half of humans infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 viruses have died, yet virus-induced host signaling has yet to be clearly elucidated. Airway epithelia are known to produce inflammatory mediators that contribute to HPAI H5N1-mediated pathogenicity, but a comprehensive analysis of the host response in this cell type is lacking. Here, we leveraged a system approach to identify and statistically validate signaling subnetworks that define the dynamic transcriptional response of human bronchial epithelial cells after infection with influenza A/Vietnam/1203/2004 (H5N1, VN1203). Importantly, we validated a subset of transcripts from one subnetwork in both Calu-3 cells and mice. A more detailed examination of two subnetworks involved in the immune response and keratinization processes revealed potential novel mediators of HPAI H5N1 pathogenesis and host response signaling. Finally, we show how these results compare to those for a less virulent strain of influenza virus. Using emergent network properties, we provide fresh insight into the host response to HPAI H5N1 virus infection and identify novel avenues for perturbation studies and potential therapeutic interventions for fatal HPAI H5N1 disease.