Abstract:

Obejective: To investigate the vaginal microbiome characteristics and differences between benign and malignant gynecological tumors. Methods: The clinical data of 152 patients were retrospectively analyzed from June 2022 to June 2024. The patients were divide into the malignant tumor group (n=58) and the benign tumor group (n=94). Additionally, 80 healthy women who underwent routine physical examinations during the same period were selected as the control group. The general information, lactobacillus abundance, microbial diversity, microbial density, pH value, and vaginal cleanliness of the microecological characteristics wre compared among the three groups. Results: There were significant differences in the proportions of patients with decreased lactic acid bacteria abundance, increased small coccoid bacteria abundance, increased leukocytes, positive clue cells, positive spores, positive budding spores, abnormal vaginal cleanliness, pH>4.5, microbial imbalance, abnormal bacterial diversity, and abnormal bacterial density, as well as abnormal Nugent scores and Donders scores (all P<0.05). The pairwise comparison of results between groups showed that the proportions of patients with the aforementioned vaginal microecological indicators were higher in both the benign tumor group and the malignant tumor group, when compared to the control group (all P<0.016 7). The proportions of patients with decreased lactobacillus abundance, positive clue cells, pH>4.5, microbial imbalance, abnormal bacterial diversity, and abnormal bacterial density in the malignant tumor group were higher than those in the benign tumor group (all P<0.016 7). Conclusions: Vaginal microbiome dysregulation is prevalent in patients with gynecological neoplasms, with a pronounced imbalance being more common in cases of malignant tumors. The severity of microbiome dysbiosis may serve as a potential biomarker for the early diagnosis and differential diagnosis of benign versus malignant gynecological neoplasms.

Key words: Genital neoplasms, female, Lactobacillus, Vagina, Microbiota, Dysbiosis