Prevalence and relation of Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Mycoplasma genitalium with clinicopathological and vaginal microbiota data in woman with high-grade intraepithelial cervical lesion.

Abstract

The alarming data associated with sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in Brasil make them a relevant public health issue. The persistent infection by oncogenic high-risk Human Papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes overly increase the chances of development of precursor lesions of the cervix, which, if untreated, can evolve to invasive squamous cell carcinoma. There are some factors associated with the HPV infection persistence, among them the mucosal immunity and coinfection with STIs. Studies have shown that infection by Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae or Mycoplasma genitalium can alter the inflammatory profile of the cervical vaginal microenvironment and hinder the HPV clearance. Therefore, analyzing the coinfection of HPV with bacterial endocervicitis becomes important, especially in a setting that follows development of cervical precursor lesions. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence and association of C. trachomatis, N. gonorrhoeae and M. genitalium with clinical pathologic data and vaginal microbiota in women with high grade intraepithelial cervical lesions. It is a prospective study, which will include 30 women without high grade intraepithelial cervical lesions and HPV negative and 30 woman with high grade intraepithelial cervical lesion, attended at the "Hospital de Amor de Barretos" in the period of january to december of 2024. During the specular examination, endocervical secretion will be collected for screening of C. trachomatis, N. gonorrhoeae and M. genitalium by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The vaginal microbiota analysis will be made by sequencing of the V3-V4 region of the bacterial gene RNAr 16S. The presence of such bacterial taxa, as well as the bacterial community will be associated with HPV infection and other clinical pathological data.