{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,18]],"date-time":"2026-03-18T08:00:20Z","timestamp":1773820820309,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,18]],"date-time":"2026-03-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1773792000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Microbiol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Spontaneous preterm birth (sPTB) remains a major cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality. We used integrated metagenomics and untargeted metabolomics to identify vaginal microbial and host metabolic signatures associated with sPTB in Chinese women.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Vaginal swabs (sPTB,\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f37; term,\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f62) and available maternal plasma were profiled by shotgun metagenomic sequencing and UHPLC\u2013HRMS metabolomics. Group differences in microbial diversity\/taxa and metabolite features were evaluated, followed by pathway enrichment and microbiome\u2013metabolome correlation analyses.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Compared with term controls, sPTB was characterized by reduced Lactobacillus dominance, higher vaginal microbial alpha diversity (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.05), and distinct community structure (PERMANOVA\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.001). Metabolomic profiles of plasma and vaginal fluid differentiated sPTB from term pregnancy and highlighted decreased pantothenic acid and increased 4-pyridoxic acid, together with lipid and amino-acid perturbations. Pantothenic acid showed good discrimination (AUC\u202f=\u202f0.82), and a multi-metabolite model improved classification (AUROC\u202f=\u202f0.9544). KEGG analysis implicated vitamin B6 metabolism, pantothenate\/CoA biosynthesis, and glycerophospholipid metabolism. Microbiome\u2013metabolome integration dentified exploratory an sPTB-associated pattern in which Lactobacillus (e.g.,\n                      <jats:italic>L. crispatus<\/jats:italic>\n                      ) was positively correlated with pantothenic acid, while dysbiosis\u2212\/pathogen-associated taxa (including\n                      <jats:italic>C. trachomatis<\/jats:italic>\n                      ) correlated with 4-pyridoxic acid.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>sPTB in this Chinese cohort is associated with concurrent vaginal dysbiosis and systemic\/local metabolic disturbances, supporting integrated microbiome\u2013metabolite markers for risk stratification and potential preventive targets.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fmicb.2026.1729476","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,18]],"date-time":"2026-03-18T06:57:33Z","timestamp":1773817053000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Integrated metagenomic and metabolomic profiling of spontaneous preterm birth in Chinese women"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Heng","family":"Xue","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Laboratory Medicine, Fujian Maternity and Child Health Hospital, College of Clinical Medicine for Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics, Fujian Medical University","place":["Fuzhou, Fujian, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mengjun","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Fujian Maternity and Child Health Hospital, College of Clinical Medicine for Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics, Fujian Medical University","place":["Fuzhou, Fujian, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yao","family":"Tang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Laboratory Medicine, Fujian Maternity and Child Health Hospital, College of Clinical Medicine for Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics, Fujian Medical University","place":["Fuzhou, Fujian, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Wu","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Laboratory Medicine, Fujian Maternity and Child Health Hospital, College of Clinical Medicine for Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics, Fujian Medical University","place":["Fuzhou, Fujian, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xingliang","family":"Yu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Laboratory Medicine, School of Medical Technology and Engineering, Fujian Medical University","place":["Fuzhou, Fujian, China"]},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Clinical Laboratory Technology for Precision Medicine (Fujian Medical University), Fujian Province University","place":["Fuzhou, Fujian, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jun","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Fujian Maternity and Child Health Hospital, College of Clinical Medicine for Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics, Fujian Medical University","place":["Fuzhou, Fujian, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mian","family":"Pan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Fujian Maternity and Child Health Hospital, College of Clinical Medicine for Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics, Fujian Medical University","place":["Fuzhou, Fujian, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Zhaodong","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Fujian Maternity and Child Health Hospital, College of Clinical Medicine for Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics, Fujian Medical University","place":["Fuzhou, Fujian, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"309","DOI":"10.1016\/bs.pmbts.2022.08.001","article-title":"Vaginal microbiome dysbiosis in preterm birth","volume":"192","author":"Ahrodia","year":"2022","journal-title":"Prog. 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