{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,20]],"date-time":"2026-06-20T17:04:40Z","timestamp":1781975080895,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,28]],"date-time":"2025-01-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1738022400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,28]],"date-time":"2025-01-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1738022400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000865","name":"Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000865","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sci Rep"],"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n          <jats:p>Bacterial vaginosis (BV), characterized by an imbalance in the vaginal microbiota, is a prevalent condition among women of reproductive age and a risk factor for human immunodeficiency virus, sexually transmitted infections, and preterm birth. BV is generally considered to induce mucosal inflammation, but the specific pathways and cell types involved are not well characterized. This prospective study aimed to assess associations between microbial changes and mucosal immune responses in BV patients. Therefore, samples from 20 premenopausal women with BV and treated with metronidazole were analyzed. Vaginal swabs, menstrual cup, and endocervical cytobrush samples were collected before treatment, weekly for four weeks, and at 2, 4, and 6 months for Nugent scoring, immune cell populations and cytokine analysis. Of 105 study intervals, 27 (25.7%) showed improvement in Nugent category, 61 (58.1%) remained unchanged, and 17 (16.2%) worsened. Improvement correlated with decreased monocytes (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.005), while worsening was linked to increased monocytes (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009&lt;\u20090.001) and dendritic cells (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.02). B cells (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.02) and IFN-\u03b3-induced chemokines - IP-10 (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.007), MIG (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.049), and ITAC (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.005) - were associated with improvement. In conclusion, although the T-cell-associated chemokines IP-10, ITAC, and MIG were strongly associated with improvements in Nugent category, our findings indicate that antigen-presenting cells, particularly monocytes, show the most dynamic response to shifts in the vaginal microbiota in patients with BV.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-025-88208-9","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,28]],"date-time":"2025-01-28T12:30:43Z","timestamp":1738067443000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Association between changes in genital immune markers and vaginal microbiome transitions in bacterial vaginosis"],"prefix":"10.1038","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Philipp","family":"Foessleitner","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Briah","family":"Cooley Demidkina","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wafae","family":"El-Arar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Miles","family":"Goldenberg","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Meena","family":"Murthy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Agnes","family":"Bergerat","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ofri","family":"Bar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Douglas S.","family":"Kwon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9924-2349","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Caroline M.","family":"Mitchell","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"88208_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1100029","DOI":"10.3389\/frph.2023.1100029","volume":"5","author":"C Abbe","year":"2023","unstructured":"Abbe, C. & Mitchell, C. M. Bacterial vaginosis: A review of approaches to treatment and prevention. Front. Reprod. Health 5, 1100029. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/frph.2023.1100029 (2023).","journal-title":"Front. Reprod. Health"},{"key":"88208_CR2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"61","DOI":"10.1111\/1471-0528.14209","volume":"124","author":"D Nasioudis","year":"2017","unstructured":"Nasioudis, D., Linhares, I. M., Ledger, W. J. & Witkin, S. S. Bacterial vaginosis: A critical analysis of current knowledge. BJOG 124, 61\u201369. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/1471-0528.14209 (2017).","journal-title":"BJOG"},{"key":"88208_CR3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"177","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ajog.2011.03.047","volume":"205","author":"RF Lamont","year":"2011","unstructured":"Lamont, R. F. et al. Treatment of abnormal vaginal flora in early pregnancy with clindamycin for the prevention of spontaneous preterm birth: A systematic review and meta analysis. Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol. 205, 177\u2013190. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.ajog.2011.03.047 (2011).","journal-title":"Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol."},{"key":"88208_CR4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"173","DOI":"10.1111\/birt.12154","volume":"42","author":"A Farr","year":"2015","unstructured":"Farr, A. et al. Routine use of an antenatal infection screen-and-treat program to prevent preterm birth: Long-term experience at a tertiary referral center. Birth (Berkeley Calif) 42, 173\u2013180. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/birt.12154 (2015).","journal-title":"Birth (Berkeley Calif)"},{"key":"88208_CR5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Foessleitner, P. et al. Screening pregnant women for bacterial vaginosis using a point-of-care test: A prospective validation study. J. Clin. 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Microbiome 9, 239. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1186\/s40168-021-01183-x (2021).","journal-title":"Microbiome"},{"key":"88208_CR8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1317","DOI":"10.2147\/ijwh.S383333","volume":"15","author":"CA Muzny","year":"2023","unstructured":"Muzny, C. A. & Sobel, J. D. Understanding and preventing recurring bacterial vaginosis: Important considerations for clinicians. Int. J. Womens Health 15, 1317\u20131325. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2147\/ijwh.S383333 (2023).","journal-title":"Int. J. Womens Health"},{"key":"88208_CR9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Bertran, T. et al. Slight pro-inflammatory Immunomodulation properties of dendritic cells by Gardnerella vaginalis: The invisible man of bacterial vaginosis? J. Immunol. 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The remaining authors declare no conflict of interest.","order":2,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Competing interests"}}],"article-number":"3536"}}