ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Extra-intestinal Microbiome
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2025.1580801
This article is part of the Research TopicCommunity Series in the Immunological Role of the Maternal Microbiome in Pregnancy: Volume IIView all 5 articles
Insights into the alteration of vaginal microbiota and metabolites in pregnant woman with preterm delivery: Prospective cohort study
Provisionally accepted
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Fujian Maternity and Child Health Hospital, Fujian, China
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Disruptions in vaginal microbiota and metabolites during pregnancy may be the most important risk factor for preterm delivery, thus the difference in vaginal microbiota and metabolites between women who subsequently delivered at term and who eventually experienced preterm birth. In this study, 63 participants were enrolled before the cervical cerclage surgery (namely pre-cerclage), comprising women who subsequently delivered at term and who eventually experienced preterm birth. The cervical-vaginal fluid (CVF) was collected two days prior to the cervical cerclage surgery. Compared with the term birth groups (PrTG), the proportion of beneficial bacteria (Lactobacillus, Prevotella, Trichococcus, Neisseria and Gemella) in the preterm birth group (PrPG) were significantly reduced (p < 0.05), while the proportion of harmful bacteria (Thauera, Ochrobactrum, Gardnerella, Massilia, Phyllobacteriaceae and Atopobium) were significantly increased (p < 0.05). In addition, vaginal metabolomics-based LC-Orbitrap-MS/MS revealed that the contents of 2-Piperidone, Melphalan, N-acetylputrescine, Obatoclax, Eurostoside, Pregnanediol 3-Oglucuronide, O-Phospho-L-serine, 1-Kestose and N-arachidonylglycine were significantly decreased in the PrPG group compared with the PrTG group, while Acenocoumarol, Isopyrazam, Pentosidine, hexose, 7-Hydroxymitragynine, PE, Tamoxifen and 1-Deoxynojirimycin contents were significantly increased. These results suggest that specific bacterial species and metabolites may serve as potential biomarkers for preterm birth prediction, and approve the theoretical basis for the intervention of preterm birth.
Keywords: Preterm Birth, vaginal microbiome, vaginal metabolomics, microbial-40 marker, metabolic pathway
Received: 31 Mar 2025; Accepted: 21 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Wang, Zhang, Xu, Zheng, Lv and Pan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Mian Pan, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Fujian Maternity and Child Health Hospital, Fujian, China
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