Detection of microorganisms in cervical dysplasia – a pilot study

Background: Cervical intraepithelial lesions are noncancerous cervical abnormalities that do not invade nor metastasize, though they are premalignant when they are higher grade abnormalities. Changes in homeostasis of human microbiomes can interfere with functional changes in the individual and thus contribute to the development of diseases including cancer. Materials and methods: Out of 16 samples, 8 were cervical dysplasia and 8 were normal healthy controls (NILM). Two cervical swabs were collected from one patient, with one intended for the assessment of aerobic bacteria and anaerobic bacteria. Aerobic swab was introduced into Amies transport medium, while the anaerobic swab was placed into Brain Heart Infusion broth. Identification was done by Gram's staining for the detection of microorganisms. Following this, the swabs were inoculated into culture media, biochemical tests, and taxonomic identification by MALDI-ToF analysis. Results: Among the pairwise comparison between groups of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, E. coli was significantly more abundant with the P -value (<0.05). However, we observed no significant difference in the aerobic and anaerobic bacteria between women who had cervical dysplasia and healthy controls. Conclusion: Our investigation revealed distinctions in diversity, composition, and relative abundance of cervicovaginal microbiota and HPV infection among women diagnosed with cervical dysplasia, and in healthy control groups. These findings are significant for understanding the role of microbiota in cervical health. These may contribute to the development of diagnostic tools or targeted interventions for cervical cancer and dysplasia.