Cervicovaginal microbiota and local immune response modulate the risk of spontaneous preterm delivery.

Failure to predict and understand the causes of preterm birth, the leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality, have limited effective interventions and therapeutics. From a cohort of 2000 pregnant women, we performed a nested case control study on 107 well-phenotyped cases of spontaneous preterm birth (sPTB) and 432 women delivering at term. Using innovative Bayesian modeling of cervicovaginal microbiota, seven bacterial taxa were significantly associated with increased risk of sPTB, with a stronger effect in African American women. However, higher vaginal levels of ß-defensin-2 lowered the risk of sPTB associated with cervicovaginal microbiota in an ethnicity-dependent manner. Surprisingly, even in Lactobacillus spp. dominated cervicovaginal microbiota, low ß-defensin-2 was associated with increased risk of sPTB. These findings hold promise for diagnostics to accurately identify women at risk for sPTB early in pregnancy. Therapeutic strategies could include immune modulators and microbiome-based therapeutics to reduce this significant health burden.

The effects of intravaginal clindamycin and metronidazole therapy on vaginal mobiluncus morphotypes in patients with bacterial vaginosis.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to compare the effects of treatments for bacterial vaginosis (BV) on vaginal Mobiluncus morphotypes. STUDY DESIGN: Analyses were performed on Mobiluncus scores from similarly conducted studies evaluating clindamycin vaginal single-dose cream (CVSDC) or metronidazole vaginal gel (MVG) in 55 patients with BV and with Mobiluncus morphotypes at baseline. RESULTS: Both treatment groups demonstrated significant reductions in Mobiluncus score. However, the Mobiluncus score at test-of-cure was lower in the CVSDC than in the MVG group (P=0.0471). More patients in the CVSDC group than in the MVG group achieved microbiologic (57.5% vs. 26.7%; P=0.04), clinical (57.5% vs. 26.7%; P=0.04), and therapeutic cures of BV (45.0% vs. 20.0%; P=0.09). CONCLUSION: Clindamycin reduces vaginal Mobiluncus morphotypes to a greater extent than metronidazole in patients with BV; this correlates with a higher BV cure rate.

[Detection of Mobiluncus species by special primer amplification and 16S DNA sequence analysis].

Bacterial Vaginosis (BV), a microecological disease leaded by overgrowth of the vaginal bacteria, is one of the Polymicrobial Diseases. The close relationship between BV and Mobiluncus ssp. was recognized gradually. But it is difficult to get the pure culture of this anaerobic bacterium because of its rigorous requirement for growth conditions. The vaginal discharge came from the BV animal model--Rhesus monkey was cultured in anaerobic environment. The 16S rRNA gene was amplified and sequenced using mobiluncus-specific primers. Mobiluncus ssp, closely related to Mobiluncus mulieris, were detected, by comparing with the 16S rRNA genes in the GenBank.

Mobiluncus species in gynaecological and obstetric infections: antimicrobial resistance and prevalence in a Turkish population.

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of Mobiluncus species isolated from specimens collected from Turkish women with gynaecological infections. Mobiluncus species were isolated on enriched Schaedler agar and RLK agar plates under anaerobic conditions. The MICs of various antibiotics were evaluated using an agar dilution procedure. The prevalence of Mobiluncus species isolated from vulvo-vaginal abscesses, endometrial smears, salpingitis and bacterial vaginosis was 2%, 4.7%, 3.8% and 49%, respectively. Mobiluncus isolates were only resistant to metronidazole (81% resistance). The isolation rate of M. curtisii was higher than M. mulieris in Turkish women with bacterial vaginosis, vulvo-vaginal abscesses, endometritis or salpingitis.

Transfer of members of the genus Falcivibrio to the genus Mobiluncus, and emended description of the genus Mobiluncus.

It has long been thought that the genera Mobiluncus and Falcivibrio contain the same organisms. Using a polyphasic approach, it was found that Mobiluncus curtisii and Mobiluncus mulieris were the same as Falcivibrio vaginalis and Falcivibrio grandis, respectively. As the genus name Mobiluncus takes precedence, it is proposed that F. vaginalis and F. grandis be transferred to the genus Mobiluncus. In agreement with previous studies, results from phenotypic tests did not support the separation of M. curtisii strains into its two subspecies, M. curtisii subsp. curtisii and M. curtisii subsp. holmesii. Phenotypic complexity within M. curtisii dictates that the species should be treated as a complex until more in-depth analyses of the species have been performed. Phylogenetic analyses, based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, demonstrated that the genus Mobiluncus was associated with Varibaculum cambriense and the two subspecies of Actinomyces neuii, and that A. neuii is only distantly related to Actinomyces sensu stricto.

Isolation of Mobiluncus species from the human vagina.

We report the results of a study concerning the characteristics of 52 strains of Mobiluncus spp. isolated from 982 vaginal secretions from patients with suspected bacterial vaginosis. 158 of these women presented the features of this bacterial infection. Of the strains isolated, 39 belonged to the species Mobiluncus curtisii, (25 of these which to M. curtisii subsp. curtisii and 14, to M. curtisii subsp. holmesii), and 13, to Mobiluncus mulieris. The vaginal isolates of Mobiluncus spp. were identified by comparing their biochemical profiles with those of the type strains M. curtisii subsp. holmesii (ATCC 35,242), M. curtisii subsp. curtisii (ATCC 35,241) and M. mulieris (ATCC 35,243). All strains of M. mulieris proved to be sensitive to the antimicrobial agents assayed, while strains of M. curtisii were seen to be resistant only to metronidazole.

Classification of the genus Mobiluncus based on comparative partial 16S rRNA gene analysis.

On the basis of partial 16S rRNA gene sequences and the results of Southern blot analyses, we confirmed the division of the genus Mobiluncus into the species Mobiluncus curtisii and Mobiluncus mulieris. Division of M. curtisii into M. curtisii subsp. curtisii and M. curtisii subsp. holmesii was not supported by our data.