Abstract 4216: The microbiota associated to cervical and anal HPV infections in a Hispanic population

Anogenital human papillomavirus (HPV) are the world’s most commonly diagnosed sexually transmitted infections and high-risk types are linked to dysplasia. Susceptibility to HPV infections is related to the microbial communities of these genital surfaces, which are interfaces between the host and environment. Microbes are a predicted cause of malignancies, revealing a tremendous potential of microbiome-related processes for cancer prevention and diagnostics. The cervix and anus share a susceptible transformation zone, characterized by a metaplastic epithelial site. In fact, in women, anal and cervical squamous intraepithelial lesions tend to occur concurrently, an observation that could be explained by the fact that anal and cervical HPV infections are strongly correlated. We hypothesized that bacterial communities may differ in the anus and cervix and may reveal populations associated to HPV infections in these two body sites. To test this hypothesis we characterized the microbiota of a cross-sectional population-based sample of Puerto Rican women (self-sampled) from the San Juan metropolitan (n=300 samples) and related them to anogenital HPV infections (HPV typing performed by PCR). The microbiota of resident cervical and anal bacterial communities was performed through sequencing of the 16S ribosomal RNA V4 region with the Illumina platform. Data was analyzed at first with QIIta, using the SILVA database as taxonomic reference, and community analyses were performed in QIIME and R. Significant differences in community structure (betadiversity) were found between cervical and anal communities (p-value = 0.001), but not according to HPV (p-value = 0.212) in any of the body sites. Indeed, overall anal communities were dominated by OTUs within Prevotella, Bacteroides and Clostridiales, while cervical samples were dominated by Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteraceae (Gardnerella). Despite the common core communities at each body site, cervical samples of HPV positive patients revealed an enrichment of Ureaplasma and Prevotella while Peptinophilus was associated with anal HPV infections. Although more analyses are needed, our data suggests cervical and anal bacteria are associated to HPV infections which could pave the way to the development of early detection methods or novel probiotics for in women living in Puerto Rico. Citation Format: Frances Vazquez-Sanchez, Gilmary Ortiz, Ana P. Ortiz, Filipa Godoy-Vitorino. The microbiota associated to cervical and anal HPV infections in a Hispanic population [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4216.