ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbial Symbioses
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1689494
Comprehensive Analysis of Vaginal Microbiota, Metabolites, and Inflammatory Factors in Preterm and Term Pregnancies
Provisionally accepted
- 1Shanghai Changning Maternity and Infant Health Hospital, Shanghai, China
- 2Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Purpose:This study aimed to reveal the interrelationships among vaginal microorganisms, metabolism, and inflammatory factors in premature pregnant women. Methods: A total of 77 pregnant women were enrolled and divided into a preterm birth group (n=23) and a full-term birth group (n=54) according to the gestational week of delivery. Blood samples and vaginal secretion samples were collected before the onset of labor or after rupture of membranes for blood index testing, 16S RNA sequencing of vaginal secretion samples, and untargeted metabolite determination. Results:Compared with the full-term group, the preterm group exhibited significantly elevated inflammatory markers (SII 689 vs 1061, p<0.001) and decreased vaginal microbiota α diversity (Shannon index 3.56 vs 2.65). Meanwhile, the abundance of Firmicutes was increased (54.96% vs 76.73%), primarily comprising Lactobacillus jensenii, which was negatively correlated with gestational week; metabolomics identified significantly differential metabolites, including upregulated tyrosine-arginine, cholesterol sulfate, and benzene compounds such as 2,4-dichlorophenol. KEGG analysis revealed that pathways such as kynurenine, steroids, lipids, and microbial metabolism were significantly activated in the preterm birth group. Omics association analysis revealed significant correlations among microbiota, metabolites, and inflammatory markers. For example, Lactobacillus jensenii and inflammatory metabolites such as arginine-lysine, sulfamethoxazole, 5-aminovaleric acid, and epoxiconazole were all positively correlated with SII (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The results suggest that an imbalance in vaginal microbiota, particularly the abnormal proliferation of Lactobacillus jensenii,as well as amino acid and lipid metabolism may be associated with inflammation-induced preterm birth.
Keywords: Preterm Birth, vaginal microbiota, Lactobacillus jensenii, Metabolites, SII
Received: 21 Aug 2025; Accepted: 15 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Shen, Cai, Guan, Peng and Jin. 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:
Ting Peng, qch1868@163.com
Lei Jin, leijin1987@hotmail.com
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.