Vaginal DNA Virome of South African Adolescents

The aim of the parent study, UChoose, which is an open-label, randomized crossover study is to evaluate the feasibility of different hormonal contraception (HC) options among adolescents (clinicaltrials.gov/NCT02404038) in South Africa. The female participants that were recruited through a parent study, UChoose, were non-pregnant, HIV-seronegative, and aged 15 - 19. Genital tract samples were collected longitudinally every 4 months over 8 months, in a randomised study of injectable hormonal contraception (norethisterone enantate, NET-EN), combined contraceptive intravaginal ring (CCVR, NuvaRing; MSD Pty Ltd), or combined oral contraceptive pills (COC, Triphasil or Nordette).The aim of the current study is to identify associated DNA viruses in the sequenced samples of these female participants. This would give further insight as to how the different hormonal contraception methods impact on the vaginal DNA virome of these participants.

父研究UChoose是一项开放标签随机交叉试验（randomized crossover study），注册于clinicaltrials.gov/NCT02404038，其核心目标为评估南非青少年群体中不同激素避孕法（hormonal contraception, HC）方案的可行性。通过该父研究招募的女性受试者均满足未妊娠、HIV血清阴性且年龄介于15至19岁之间的纳入标准。在该项父研究中，受试者被随机分配至三个干预组别：注射用激素避孕法（庚酸炔诺酮（norethisterone enantate, NET-EN））组、复方避孕阴道环（combined contraceptive intravaginal ring, CCVR，NuvaRing；默沙东私人有限公司（MSD Pty Ltd））组以及复方口服避孕药（combined oral contraceptive pills, COC，Triphasil或Nordette）组，并在为期8个月的随访周期内，每4个月纵向采集受试者的生殖道样本。本项研究旨在对上述女性受试者的测序样本进行分析，识别其中的相关DNA病毒，从而进一步阐明不同激素避孕方式对受试者阴道DNA病毒组（vaginal DNA virome）的影响。