Alterations of Microbiota in Urine from Interstitial Cystitis patients

Background: Interstitial Cystitis (IC) is a chronic inflammatory condition of the bladder with unknown etiology. The aim of this study was to characterize the microbial community present in the urine from IC female patients and compare this with the microbial profile of asymptomatic healthy female (HF) urine. Background: Interstitial Cystitis (IC) is a chronic inflammatory condition of the bladder with unknown etiology. The aim of this study was to characterize the microbial community present in the urine from IC female patients and compare this with the microbial profile of asymptomatic healthy female (HF) urine. Results: The composition and distribution of bacterial sequences differed between the urine microbiota of IC and HF. Reduced sequence richness and diversity were found for IC patient urine, and a significant difference in the community structure of IC urine in relation to HF urine was observed. More than 90% of the IC sequence reads were identified as belonging to the bacterial genus Lactobacillus, a marked increase compared to the 60% in the HF urine. Conclusion: The 16S rDNA sequence data demonstrates a shift in the bacterial composition of IC urine. The reduced microbial diversity and richness is accompanied by a higher abundance of the bacterial genus Lactobacillus, compared to HF urine. This study demonstrates that high throughput sequencing analysis of the urine microbiota in IC patients is a powerful tool towards a better understanding of this enigmatic disease.