The syndrome of spontaneous preterm birth (sPTB) presents a challenge to mechanistic understanding, effective risk stratification, and clinical management. Individual associations between sPTB, self-reported ethnic ancestry, vaginal microbiota, metabolome, and innate immune response are known but not fully understood, and knowledge has yet to impact clinical practice. Here, we used multi–data type integration and composite statistical models to gain insight into sPTB risk by exploring the cervicovaginal environment of an ethnically heterogenous pregnant population (n = 346 women; n = 60 sPTB < 37 weeks’ gestation, including n = 27 sPTB < 34 weeks). Analysis of cervicovaginal samples (10–15+6 weeks) identified potentially novel interactions between risk of sPTB and microbiota, metabolite, and maternal host defense molecules. Statistical modeling identified a composite of metabolites (leucine, tyrosine, aspartate, lactate, betaine, acetate, and Ca2+) associated with risk of sPTB < 37 weeks (AUC 0.752). A combination of glucose, aspartate, Ca2+, Lactobacillus crispatus, and L. acidophilus relative abundance identified risk of early sPTB < 34 weeks (AUC 0.758), improved by stratification by ethnicity (AUC 0.835). Increased relative abundance of L. acidophilus appeared protective against sPTB < 34 weeks. By using cervicovaginal fluid samples, we demonstrate the potential of multi–data type integration for developing composite models toward understanding the contribution of the vaginal environment to risk of sPTB.
Flavia Flaviani, Natasha L. Hezelgrave, Tokuwa Kanno, Erica M. Prosdocimi, Evonne Chin-Smith, Alexandra E. Ridout, Djuna K. von Maydell, Vikash Mistry, William G. Wade, Andrew H. Shennan, Konstantina Dimitrakopoulou, Paul T. Seed, A. James Mason, Rachel M. Tribe
This file is in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format. If you have not installed and configured the Adobe Acrobat Reader on your system.
PDFs are designed to be printed out and read, but if you prefer to read them online, you may find it easier if you increase the view size to 125%.
Many versions of the free Acrobat Reader do not allow Save. You must instead save the PDF from the JCI Online page you downloaded it from. PC users: Right-click on the Download link and choose the option that says something like "Save Link As...". Mac users should hold the mouse button down on the link to get these same options.