Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Mar 26, 2023; 11(9): 2119-2122
Published online Mar 26, 2023. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v11.i9.2119
Vaginal microbes confounders and implications on women's health
Wassan Nori, Ban H-Hameed
Wassan Nori, Ban H-Hameed, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad 10052, Al Saydyah, Iraq
Author contributions: Nori W designed the research and reviewed data, wrote and revised the letter; H-Hameed B reviewed the scientific content; both authors have read and agreed on the final version of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Wassan Nori, PhD, Academic Editor, Academic Research, Senior Researcher, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Mustansiriyah University, Al Amin, Street No. 38, Baghdad 10052, Al Saydyah, Iraq. dr.wassan76@uomustansiriyah.edu.iq
Received: December 20, 2022
Peer-review started: December 20, 2022
First decision: January 30, 2023
Revised: January 30, 2023
Accepted: March 1, 2023
Article in press: March 1, 2023
Published online: March 26, 2023
Abstract

The vagina has diverse vaginal microbes (Vm). A disturbance in the delicate balance maintained in Vm is linked to women's obstetrical and reproductive tract problems. Vaginal microbes play an essential role in protecting the health of the female reproductive tract by alleviating gynecological infection. However, Vm profiling has many confounders that need to be addressed during sampling, including age, race, pregnancy, medical illness, and smoking. Vm profiling improves reproduction odds, may serve as a marker for genital malignancies and have a therapeutic application in menopausal women and women with cervical cancers.

Keywords: Vaginal microbes, Lactobacillus, Infertility, Probiotics, Cancer, Menapuse

Core Tip: The vaginal ecosystem has a key role in women's health. Vaginal microbes (Vm) affect the obstetrical performance of pregnant women and, in turn, can be affected by age, gestational age, race, and time of sampling. For infertile women, Vm composition can affect fertilization odds, the success of assisted reproduction technique, and even may predict the chances of live birth. The therapeutic aspect of Vm was introduced to enhance vaginal protection against infection, alleviate menopausal symptoms, and, finally, in genital malignancies. Vm was used as a signature marker in predicting and preventing ovarian and cervical malignancies, respectively.