Detection of hydrogen peroxide-producing Lactobacillus species in the vagina: a comparison of culture and quantitative PCR among HIV-1 seropositive women

BMC Infectious Diseases

Jane Hitti⁴  David N Fredricks³  Robert Coombs¹  Amneris Luque²  Susan E Cohn⁵  Tina Fiedler³  Congzhou Liu³  Kathy Agnew⁴  Caroline Mitchell⁴  Jennifer E Balkus⁴ 

[1] Departments of Laboratory Medicine and Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, USA;Department of Medicine, University of Rochester, Rochester, USA;Vaccine Infectious Diseases Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, USA;Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Washington, Seattle, USA;Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, USA

关键词: 16S rRNA gene;    Hydrogen peroxide;    Culture;    Bacterial vaginosis;    Lactobacillus jensenii;    Lactobacillus crispatus;    Lactobacillus;   

Others  :  1159720
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2334-12-188

 received in 2011-12-22, accepted in 2012-08-08,  发布年份 2012

【 摘 要 】

Background

The presence of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) producing Lactobacillus in the vagina may play a role in controlling genital HIV-1 shedding. Sensitive molecular methods improve our ability to characterize the vaginal microbiota; however, they cannot characterize phenotype. We assessed the concordance of H₂O₂-producing Lactobacillus detected by culture with quantitative PCR (qPCR) detection of Lactobacillus species commonly assumed to be H₂O₂-producers.

Methods

Samples were collected as part of a prospective cohort study of HIV-1 seropositive US women. Cervicovaginal lavage specimens were tested for L. crispatus and L. jensenii using 16S rRNA gene qPCR assays. Vaginal swabs were cultured for Lactobacillus and tested for H₂O₂-production. We calculated a kappa statistic to assess concordance between culture and qPCR.

Results

Culture and qPCR results were available for 376 visits from 57 women. Lactobacilli were detected by culture at 308 (82%) visits, of which 233 of 308 (76%) produced H₂O₂. L. crispatus and/or L. jensenii were detected at 215 (57%) visits. Concordance between detection of L. crispatus and/or L. jensenii by qPCR and H₂O₂-producing Lactobacillus by culture was 75% (kappa = 0.45).

Conclusions

Among HIV-1 seropositive women, there was a moderate level of concordance between H₂O₂-producing Lactobacillus detected by culture and the presence of L. crispatus and/or L. jensenii by qPCR. However, one-quarter of samples with growth of H₂O₂-producing lactobacilli did not have L. crispatus or L. jensenii detected by qPCR. This discordance may be due to the presence of other H₂O₂-producing Lactobacillus species.

【 授权许可】

   
2012 Balkus et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

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