{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,8]],"date-time":"2026-10-08T14:09:38Z","timestamp":1791468578161,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"Wiley","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,1,22]],"date-time":"2019-01-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1548115200000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100009880","name":"Regione Lazio","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100009880","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2019,1,22]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>In healthy women, the cervicovaginal microbiota is mostly populated by <jats:italic>Lactobacillus<\/jats:italic> spp., the main host defense factor of the female genital tract. In addition to Lactobacilli, other microorganisms populate the cervicovaginal microbiota, like <jats:italic>Candida<\/jats:italic> spp. and <jats:italic>Gardnerella vaginalis<\/jats:italic>. The overgrowth of <jats:italic>Candida<\/jats:italic> spp. or <jats:italic>G. vaginalis<\/jats:italic>, known as biofilm-producing microorganisms in the genital ecosystem, may lead to microbial dysbiosis that increases the risk of acquiring sexually transmitted infections, like <jats:italic>Chlamydia trachomatis<\/jats:italic>. <jats:italic>C. trachomatis<\/jats:italic>, the leading cause of bacterial sexually transmitted diseases, is still considered an important public health problem worldwide because of the impact of asymptomatic infections on long-term reproductive sequelae, including pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility. The aim of our study was to investigate the interaction between <jats:italic>C. trachomatis<\/jats:italic> and the biofilm produced by <jats:italic>Candida albicans<\/jats:italic> or <jats:italic>Gardnerella vaginalis<\/jats:italic>, evaluating whether the biofilm can harbor <jats:italic>C. trachomatis<\/jats:italic> and influence its survival as well as its infectious properties. In order to do so, we developed an <jats:italic>in vitro<\/jats:italic> coculture transwell-based biofilm model. Our findings proved, for the first time, that <jats:italic>C. trachomatis<\/jats:italic>, an intracellular obligate pathogen, survived, for up to 72\u2009hours after exposure, inside the biofilm produced by <jats:italic>C. albicans<\/jats:italic> or <jats:italic>G. vaginalis<\/jats:italic>, retaining its infectious properties, as evidenced by the typical chlamydial inclusions observed in the cell monolayer (chlamydial inclusion-forming units at 72\u2009h: 9255\u2009\u00b1\u20091139 and 9873\u2009\u00b1\u20091015, respectively). In conclusion, our results suggest that the biofilm related to <jats:italic>Candida<\/jats:italic> or <jats:italic>Gardnerella<\/jats:italic> genital infections may act as a reservoir of <jats:italic>C. trachomatis<\/jats:italic> and, thus, contribute to the transmission of the infection in the population as well as to its dissemination into the upper genital tract, increasing the risk of developing severe reproductive sequelae.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1155\/2019\/1672109","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,1,22]],"date-time":"2019-01-22T19:03:29Z","timestamp":1548183809000},"page":"1-6","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":24,"title":["Biofilm in Genital Ecosystem: A Potential Risk Factor for <i>Chlamydia trachomatis<\/i> Infection"],"prefix":"10.1155","volume":"2019","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2730-8588","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Simone","family":"Filardo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public 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