The bladder, urethra, and urinary microbiome (urobiome) remains poorly understood, yet alterations in the urobiome have been implicated in urological health and disease. Most of the available studies on urobiome have been cross-sectional in nature, with relatively small sample size, and focused on the association between health and bacterial community profiles. While these studies have shown associations between urobiome and health and disease, there is still a lot yet to be explored.
For example, the non-microbial component of the urobiome is yet to be fully characterized. Since there is a possibility of biological interaction of the microbial community with virome and mycobiome, there is a need to also characterize the bladder, urethra, and urinary virome and mycobiome. Additionally, there are gaps in our understanding of how the microbiome responds to its environment and the host, or how the host responds to alterations in the microbiome. Moreover, more research is needed to investigate urobiome taxonomic and functional profiles, their temporal stability, and their relationship with different urogenital pathologies. Thus, a comprehensive understanding of these factors and the relationship between urobiome and urological diseases could have implications in the development of novel diagnostics, therapeutics, and prevention strategies for urinary pathologies.
There are fundamental questions that are yet to be explored. For example, more needs to be done on the origin of the urobiome, its progression throughout life (from birth, through puberty, and through menopause), daily fluctuations, and its composition in relation to diet and common lifestyle factors, e.g., antibiotics, hygiene practices, etc. Furthermore, more needs to be done to determine how the urobiome influences or is influenced by the genital (cervicovaginal and penile) and intestinal microbiomes.
Further work needs to be done on improving and standardizing methodologies to allow for generalizability to the wider population and the possibilities for cross-study comparisons. In addition, more large-scale and follow-up studies with standardized techniques are warranted to characterize urobiome. The findings of these studies have potential applications in diagnostics, prognostics, and therapeutics. The findings may also give insight into the mechanistic role of urobiome communities in health and disease.
The scope includes topics that advance our understanding of the bladder, urethra, and urinary microbiome, their potential roles in urogenital pathologies, and their translational application in medicine. Specific themes include the following:
- Urobiome in heath, disease, and disorders
- Methodologies and protocols, including new tools for characterization and diagnosis.
- Urobiome and antimicrobial resistance
- Urobiome as potential biological therapeutics
- Public health prevention strategies for urological pathologies
The type of manuscripts that we are interested in include the following: original research articles, methods and protocols, clinical trials, mini review, review, systematic review, brief research report, case report, general commentary, opinion, perspective, and letters to the editor.
Topic editor, Dr. Krystal Thomas-White is employed by a women's health startup called Evvy (https://www.evvy.com/). She is also a scientific advisor for the patient advocacy group called Live UTI free (https://liveutifree.com/). All other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regards to the Research Topic subject.
The bladder, urethra, and urinary microbiome (urobiome) remains poorly understood, yet alterations in the urobiome have been implicated in urological health and disease. Most of the available studies on urobiome have been cross-sectional in nature, with relatively small sample size, and focused on the association between health and bacterial community profiles. While these studies have shown associations between urobiome and health and disease, there is still a lot yet to be explored.
For example, the non-microbial component of the urobiome is yet to be fully characterized. Since there is a possibility of biological interaction of the microbial community with virome and mycobiome, there is a need to also characterize the bladder, urethra, and urinary virome and mycobiome. Additionally, there are gaps in our understanding of how the microbiome responds to its environment and the host, or how the host responds to alterations in the microbiome. Moreover, more research is needed to investigate urobiome taxonomic and functional profiles, their temporal stability, and their relationship with different urogenital pathologies. Thus, a comprehensive understanding of these factors and the relationship between urobiome and urological diseases could have implications in the development of novel diagnostics, therapeutics, and prevention strategies for urinary pathologies.
There are fundamental questions that are yet to be explored. For example, more needs to be done on the origin of the urobiome, its progression throughout life (from birth, through puberty, and through menopause), daily fluctuations, and its composition in relation to diet and common lifestyle factors, e.g., antibiotics, hygiene practices, etc. Furthermore, more needs to be done to determine how the urobiome influences or is influenced by the genital (cervicovaginal and penile) and intestinal microbiomes.
Further work needs to be done on improving and standardizing methodologies to allow for generalizability to the wider population and the possibilities for cross-study comparisons. In addition, more large-scale and follow-up studies with standardized techniques are warranted to characterize urobiome. The findings of these studies have potential applications in diagnostics, prognostics, and therapeutics. The findings may also give insight into the mechanistic role of urobiome communities in health and disease.
The scope includes topics that advance our understanding of the bladder, urethra, and urinary microbiome, their potential roles in urogenital pathologies, and their translational application in medicine. Specific themes include the following:
- Urobiome in heath, disease, and disorders
- Methodologies and protocols, including new tools for characterization and diagnosis.
- Urobiome and antimicrobial resistance
- Urobiome as potential biological therapeutics
- Public health prevention strategies for urological pathologies
The type of manuscripts that we are interested in include the following: original research articles, methods and protocols, clinical trials, mini review, review, systematic review, brief research report, case report, general commentary, opinion, perspective, and letters to the editor.
Topic editor, Dr. Krystal Thomas-White is employed by a women's health startup called Evvy (https://www.evvy.com/). She is also a scientific advisor for the patient advocacy group called Live UTI free (https://liveutifree.com/). All other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regards to the Research Topic subject.
