Objectives: To characterize the vaginal microbiome using QIIME 2™ (Quantitative Insights Into Microbial Ecology 2) in women with gynecologic cancer.
Sample & setting: 19 women with gynecologic cancer before and after radiation therapy at a comprehensive cancer center in Atlanta, Georgia.
Methods & variables: This pilot study analyzed vaginal microbiome communities using a microbiome analysis pipeline, beginning with 16S rRNA gene sequencing and processing through use of a bioinformatics pipeline to downstream microbial statistical analysis.
Results: The findings showed the methods to be robust, and most women with gynecologic cancer showed depletion of Lactobacillus. Compared to those pre-radiation therapy, women post-radiation therapy showed higher abundances of Mobiluncus, Atopobium, and Prevotella but lower abundances of Lactobacillus, Gardnerella, and Peptostreptococcus, which are associated with bacterial vaginosis.
Implications for nursing: This study presents the fundamentals of human microbiome data collection and analysis methods to inform nursing science. Assessing the vaginal microbiome provides a potential pathway to develop interventions to ameliorate dysbiosis of the vaginal microbiome.
Keywords: 16S rRNA gene; gynecologic cancer; radiation therapy; vaginal microbiome.