Cervicovaginal Gardnerella sialidase-encoding gene in persistent human papillomavirus infection

Disturbed vaginal microbiota have a role in the persistence of high-oncogenic-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) and Gardnerella spp. is closely related with this condition. Such bacteria are the major source of cervicovaginal sialidases, important for microbiota alterations. The sialidase-encoding gene nanH3 is account for their sialidase activity. Thus, a subset of 212 women positive for hrHPV at the first visit were included in the analysis of the current study aiming to compare the loads of nanH3 in cervicovaginal fluid (CFV) of women with persistent hrHPV infection and with those cleared the infection after a year. Participants were assigned to two study groups named “persistence” (n = 124, 53.22%) or “clearance” (n = 88, 37.77%), according to the HPV status upon enrollment and follow-up. Absolute quantification of nanH3 gene was performed using quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR). Persistence and clearance group did not show statistical difference in the load of nanH3 gene (p = 0.19). When considering the subset of women with HPV16, differences in number of copies of nanh3 gene was observed between the persistent (7.39E+08 copies/μL) and clearance group (2.85E+07 copies/μL) (p = 0.007). Therefore, baseline loads of nanH3 gene is increased in women that persist with cervical HPV16 infection after 12 months.