Session Type: ePosters
Session Title: ePosters
Authors(s): M. Xiao (1), B. Lu (2), L. Zhu (1)
Authors Affiliations(s): (1) Peking Union Medical College Hospital, China, (2) Peking University, China
Background:
COVID-19 has become a global pandemic threats and its impact on women’s health has drawn great attention. Whilst host response and vaginal microbiome changes in reproductive system of women patients, especially those underlying severe conditions, remained unknown.
Methods:In this study, a novel TRACE-seq-based meta-transcriptomic analysis were applied to simultaneously characterize host responses and vaginal microbiome in 16 women patients with COVID-19 in an intensive care unit and five healthy women individuals.
Results:
Notably, although SARS-CoV-2 was absent from reproduction system of COVID-19 women patients, indications of systematic immune and defense responses were found in patients’ vaginal samples. Transcriptome analysis revealed that expression of IL-36 subfamily cytokines belonging to IL-1 superfamily were up-regulated, whilst IL-36 pathway were previously considered unaffected by COVID-19 in blood and other body sites, indicating that reproductive tract epithelial cells were invovled in defence and immune response. In addition, NF-κB and type I interferon signaling pathways downstream to IL-1/IL-36 pathway were activated in COVID-19 patients. Moreover, we found abnormal high proportion of putative pathogenic microorganisms in COVID-19 patient’s vaginal microbiota, i.e., Mycoplasma hominis, Gardnerella vaginalis, Ureaplasma urealyticum, Bacteroides spp., Atopobium spp., Enterococcus faecium and Acinetobacter baumannii, whilst there were significant intra-individual variations. Expression of antimicrobial resistant genes were also high in COVID-19 patients.
Conclusions:Our reports provide further understanding of COVID-19 threats to women, and for the first time characterized its implication on women’s reproductive system.
Session Type: ePosters
Session Title: ePosters
Authors(s): M. Xiao (1), B. Lu (2), L. Zhu (1)
Authors Affiliations(s): (1) Peking Union Medical College Hospital, China, (2) Peking University, China
Background:
COVID-19 has become a global pandemic threats and its impact on women’s health has drawn great attention. Whilst host response and vaginal microbiome changes in reproductive system of women patients, especially those underlying severe conditions, remained unknown.
Methods:In this study, a novel TRACE-seq-based meta-transcriptomic analysis were applied to simultaneously characterize host responses and vaginal microbiome in 16 women patients with COVID-19 in an intensive care unit and five healthy women individuals.
Results:
Notably, although SARS-CoV-2 was absent from reproduction system of COVID-19 women patients, indications of systematic immune and defense responses were found in patients’ vaginal samples. Transcriptome analysis revealed that expression of IL-36 subfamily cytokines belonging to IL-1 superfamily were up-regulated, whilst IL-36 pathway were previously considered unaffected by COVID-19 in blood and other body sites, indicating that reproductive tract epithelial cells were invovled in defence and immune response. In addition, NF-κB and type I interferon signaling pathways downstream to IL-1/IL-36 pathway were activated in COVID-19 patients. Moreover, we found abnormal high proportion of putative pathogenic microorganisms in COVID-19 patient’s vaginal microbiota, i.e., Mycoplasma hominis, Gardnerella vaginalis, Ureaplasma urealyticum, Bacteroides spp., Atopobium spp., Enterococcus faecium and Acinetobacter baumannii, whilst there were significant intra-individual variations. Expression of antimicrobial resistant genes were also high in COVID-19 patients.
Conclusions:Our reports provide further understanding of COVID-19 threats to women, and for the first time characterized its implication on women’s reproductive system.