Development of Human Vaginal Epithelial Organoids as a Model for Epithelial Homeostasis and Host

While the vaginal epithelium is essential for female reproductive health, a mechanistic understanding of its homeostasis and diseases has remained elusive, in part because of the lack of model systems that recapitulate the stem cell niche of the native tissue. Here, we establish human vaginal epithelial organoids (hVEOs) and infect hVEOs with Candida demonstrated the model's capacity to recapitulate specific inflammatory responses, confirming its utility for host-pathogen research. In summary, this study provides a robust, physiologically relevant model for dissecting the molecular pathways of human vaginal homeostasis and disease, enabling the definition of pathogenic mechanisms and the screening of novel therapeutic strategies. Overall design: Gene expression profiling analysis of Bulk RNA-seq data from human vaginal epithelial organoids (hVEOs) infected with different type of Candida for 12 hours, including Candida albicans (SC5314, 39A), Candida parapsilosis (83P), Candida glabrata (27G) and Candida tropicalis (48T). An additional control group (C) was also included.