Vaginal Swabs Raw sequence reads

The study goals were to understand the impact of HIV and HPV infection on the vaginal microbiota, we determined the prevalence of HR-HPV infection and cervical cytologic abnormalities in a cohort of 44 WLWH and 39 seronegative-women (SNW), characterized the vaginal microbiota by 16S sequencing and finally related these to genital inflammation and systemic immune activation. The relevance is Studies have shown that dysbiotic vaginal microbial communities, also referred to as bacterial vaginosis-associated bacteria (BVAB), increase the risk of HIV acquisition and modify the efficacy of antiretroviral-based microbicides. In sharp contrast, studies in women living with HIV (WLWH) are limited. Studies have shown that WLWH have non-optimal vaginal microbiotas, that are associated with vaginal inflammation, HIV shedding and increased risk of sexual transmission to their male partners (WLWH who do not achieve virologic suppression). The effect of antiretroviral therapy (ART) on the vaginal microbiota is currently unknown. Fewer studies have investigated the vaginal microbiota of WLWH in the context of Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, although evidence suggests that WLWH are an increased risk of HPV-related malignancies, including cervical cancer, even on ART.