Article
Microbiology
Xiaolu Ma, Xiaoxi Wang, Shengna Ye, Jinnan Liu, Hong Yuan, Nan Wang
Summary: This study analyzed the pathogenic factors and drug sensitivity associated with clinical treatment of bacterial vaginosis (BV) in Northeast China. The results showed that Gardnerella vaginalis is more resistant to metronidazole than clindamycin, and neither antibiotic is able to effectively eradicate vaginal biofilms.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Microbiology
Hanyu Qin, Yun Liu, Zhengyuan Zhai, Bingbing Xiao
Summary: This study found that different subgroups of Gardnerella exhibit differences in biofilm formation ability and antibiotic resistance. Strains with strong biofilm ability contain more genes involved in carbohydrate synthesis and metabolism. These findings contribute to the development of novel treatments for bacterial vaginosis.
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Mor Tsamir-Rimon, Elhanan Borenstein
Summary: This study successfully characterizes the progression from healthy Lactobacillus-dominant populations to Bacterial vaginosis (BV) and accurately quantifies the health condition of samples along this route by analyzing 8026 vaginal samples and using a manifold-detection framework.
NPJ BIOFILMS AND MICROBIOMES
(2023)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Tongyang Deng, Anquan Shang, Ying Zheng, Lianzhen Zhang, Hong Sun, Wei Wang
Summary: The aim of this study was to explore a new marker for the quantitative detection of bacterial vaginosis (BV) with high sensitivity and specificity. By comparing the differences in bacterial abundance between BV, healthy, and BV-intermediate groups using 16S rRNA-sequencing, candidate markers were identified. Real-time reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was then used to quantitatively detect these candidate markers and evaluate their sensitivity and specificity. Four new indicators for BV detection were discovered, with log L. crispatus/G. vaginalis (L/G) < 0 being the best indicator. A molecular diagnostic system independent of the Nugent Score could have an important impact on the clinical management of BV.
Article
Microbiology
Qiuxiang Zhang, Qiuhan Cheng, Shumao Cui, Jianxin Zhao, Wei Chen, Hao Zhang
Summary: This study evaluated the inhibitory effect of Lactobacillus gasseri CCFM1201 on Gardnerella vaginalis, the core pathogen of bacterial vaginosis. In vitro and in vivo experiments showed that L. gasseri CCFM1201 can inhibit the formation of G. vaginalis biofilm and its adhesion capacity. Furthermore, L. gasseri CCFM1201 reduced G. vaginalis in mice, modulated the inflammatory response, and improved histopathological damage to vaginal tissue.
ARCHIVES OF MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Immunology
Xiaodi Chen, Yune Lu, Tao Chen, Rongguo Li
Summary: The vaginal microbiome is crucial for women's health, with bacterial vaginosis (BV) associated with various adverse gynecologic and obstetric outcomes. Research on diagnosis and treatment strategies for BV is making progress.
FRONTIERS IN CELLULAR AND INFECTION MICROBIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Infectious Diseases
Joana Castro, Lucia G. V. Sousa, Angela Franca, Lenka Podpera Tisakova, Lorenzo Corsini, Nuno Cerca
Summary: Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a common vaginal infection in reproductive-age women. This study investigated the role of an investigational engineered phage endolysin in eradicating biofilms associated with BV.
Article
Veterinary Sciences
Jinok Kwak, Sriniwas Pandey, Jinho Cho, Minho Song, Eun Sol Kim, Hyunok Doo, Gi Beom Keum, Sumin Ryu, Yejin Choi, Juyoun Kang, Sheena Kim, Jeongyun Kim, Hyeun Bum Kim
Summary: This study developed a mouse model for human BV induced by G. vaginalis, and demonstrated comparable clinical attributes to patients with BV.
FRONTIERS IN VETERINARY SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Microbiology
Soo-Im Choi, GaYeong Won, YongGyeong Kim, Chang-Ho Kang, Gun-Hee Kim
Summary: This study investigated the effects of a mixture of five lactobacilli strains on bacterial vaginitis (BV) in HeLa cells and GV-infected BV mice. The findings suggest that this mixture can inhibit the growth of GV, reduce inflammation, and suppress the exfoliation of vaginal epithelial cells.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Ling Fang, Ruonan Ma, Xuejiao J. Gao, Lei Chen, Yuan Liu, Yanwu Huo, Taotao Wei, Xiaonan Wang, Qian Wang, Haojue Wang, Chengjun Cui, Qifeng Shi, Jing Jiang, Lizeng Gao
Summary: Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a common vaginal infection worldwide, and drug-resistance has led to recurrence after antibiotic treatment. Metastable iron sulfides have been found to kill drug-resistant G. vaginalis and have the potential for BV treatment.
Article
Infectious Diseases
Agnieszka Latka, Leen Van Simaey, Marijke Reynders, Piet Cools, Tess Rogier, Barbara Lebbe, Lorenzo Corsini, Christine Landlinger, Mario Vaneechoutte
Summary: The quantification of living cells in biofilm or after eradication treatments is problematic. This study assessed the performance of pre-treatment with propidium monoazide (PMAxx) to prevent qPCR-based amplification of DNA from killed cells. The optimized PMAxx treatment condition showed a significant reduction of Gardnerella cells, validating its use in vaginal samples from women with bacterial vaginosis.
Article
Ecology
Aliona S. Rosca, Joana Castro, Angela Franca, Mario Vaneechoutte, Nuno Cerca
Summary: Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a common bacterial vaginal infection with an unknown etiology, characterized by structured polymicrobial biofilms primarily formed by Gardnerella spp. and other anaerobic species. The study compared triple-species biofilms using pre-conditioned and competitive models, finding more significant synergistic growth interactions in the competitive model. Despite model differences, G. vaginalis consistently dominated the biofilm composition, emphasizing its relevance in BV.
Article
Microbiology
Sara Morselli, Melissa Salvo, Claudio Foschi, Tiziana Lazzarotto, Simone Ambretti, Antonella Marangoni
Summary: We characterized 61 strains of Gardnerella vaginalis (GV) isolated from women with bacterial vaginosis. The most common GV clade was clade 1 (52.5%), followed by clade 4 (36.1%). All strains were susceptible to ampicillin and clindamycin, while 96.7% and 6.6% of strains showed resistance to metronidazole and tetracycline, respectively. Isolates within clade 4 had the highest ability to form biofilms. Strains resistant to metronidazole and tetracycline were all intermediate or high biofilm producers. All GV clades significantly upregulated the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines by HeLa cells, especially IL-8 and IL-6. Clade 4 induced a significantly higher production of IL-1 beta compared to other clades.
NEW MICROBIOLOGICA
(2023)
Article
Microbiology
Zhixiang Qian, Hui Zhu, Dan Zhao, Ping Yang, Fei Gao, Chunyi Lu, Yu Yin, Shidong Kan, Daijie Chen
Summary: The study investigated the potential therapeutic effects of three Lactobacillus strains on bacterial vaginosis, revealing their distinct growth and adhesion properties. These strains showed the ability to inhibit the growth and adhesion of G. vaginalis, as well as suppress biofilm formation.
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Lucia G. V. Sousa, Carina Almeida, Christina A. Muzny, Nuno Cerca
Summary: Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a common vaginal infection worldwide. A peptide nucleic acid (PNA) probe targeting Prevotella bivia, a common BV-associated bacteria, was developed, and a multiplex approach for detection of Gardnerella spp., P. bivia, and Fannyhessea vaginae was optimized. The P. bivia PNA probe specifically detected the target species, and the optimized multiplex approach could identify the presence of these three species in multi-species BV biofilms.
NPJ BIOFILMS AND MICROBIOMES
(2023)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
L. Almeida, N. Lopes, V. Gaio, C. Cavaleiro, L. Salgueiro, V. Silva, P. Poeta, N. Cerca
Summary: The antimicrobial potential of Thymbra capitata essential oil against MRSA biofilms was investigated in this study. The results showed a strong antimicrobial activity of the essential oil, significantly reducing the biofilm biomass of MRSA. However, the concentration of the oil required to eradicate planktonic cells did not have a significant effect on biofilm biomass reduction for some isolates. Nevertheless, cell culturability and overall cellular metabolism were greatly reduced in all biofilms tested when the essential oil was used.
LETTERS IN APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Editorial Material
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Nuno Cerca
EXPERT OPINION ON PHARMACOTHERAPY
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Rosa M. F. Baptista, Bruna Silva, Joao Oliveira, Vahideh B. Isfahani, Bernardo Almeida, Mario R. Pereira, Nuno Cerca, Cidalia Castro, Pedro Rodrigues, Ana Machado, Michael Belsley, Etelvina de Matos Gomes
Summary: N,N-dimethyl-4-nitroaniline is an organic superplastic and superelastic crystal with piezoelectric and optical properties. By embedding it into poly-l-lactic acid polymer microfibers, composite fibers with high piezoelectric response and mechanical strength can be fabricated. Additionally, these fibers exhibit solid-state blue fluorescence.
Article
Infectious Diseases
Susana Bras, Angela Franca
Summary: In this study, the transcriptome of Staphylococcus epidermidis isolates causing bloodstream infections was characterized, and candidate markers were identified. However, the validation results showed limited discriminative power of the selected genes. Future studies should include a larger sample size and a wider range of conditions to find more markers for the diagnosis of S. epidermidis bloodstream infections.
Review
Microbiology
Christina A. Muzny, Nuno Cerca, Jacob H. Elnaggar, Christopher M. Taylor, Jack D. Sobel, Barbara van der Pol
Summary: Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a common cause of vaginal discharge in women of reproductive age and is associated with various negative health outcomes, including increased risk of HIV and other STIs, as well as adverse birth outcomes. The exact cause of BV, a dysbiosis of the vaginal microbiota, is still unknown. This mini-review provides an updated overview of the diagnostic tests used for BV in clinical and research settings, focusing on traditional and molecular diagnostics. It highlights the use of molecular diagnostic assays such as 16S rRNA gene sequencing, shotgun metagenomic sequencing, and FISH, as well as multiplex NAATs, in studying the vaginal microbiota and BV pathogenesis.
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Cathyrn R. O'Brien, Jacob Raskin, Ivypel Amankwa Asare, Christine Wei, Joy T. Ma, Zion K. McCoy, Kimberly Jefferson
Summary: The association between Sneathia vaginalis and preterm birth is being explored. The bacteria produces a large exotoxin called cytopathogenic toxin A (CptA), which forms pores in human epithelial cells and red blood cells. A recombinant protein containing the structured amino-terminal portion of CptA was found to be sufficient to permeabilize cells, while the repeat region of the protein bound to cells but did not cause permeability or lysis of red blood cells. This analysis sheds light on the mechanism of action of CptA, the only virulence factor of S. vaginalis studied to date.
Article
Veterinary Sciences
D. Araujo, J. Castro, F. Matos, R. Oliveira, C. Ramos, C. Almeida, S. Silva
Summary: This study investigated the prevalence and antibiotic resistance of Klebsiella spp. in clinically ill cats and dogs in veterinary clinics in the North of Portugal. The results showed that multidrug-resistant Klebsiella is widely disseminated in companion animals, and carries extended-spectrum beta-lactamase genes. This highlights the potential role of dogs and cats as a reservoir of resistant Klebsiella spp. that have the potential to be transmitted to humans.
RESEARCH IN VETERINARY SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Immunology
Jacob H. Elnaggar, Caleb M. Ardizzone, Nuno Cerca, Evelyn Toh, Pawel Laniewski, Rebecca A. Lillis, Melissa M. Herbst-Kralovetz, Alison J. Quayle, Christina A. Muzny, Christopher M. Taylor
Summary: Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the most common vaginal dysbiosis characterized by the formation of a polymicrobial biofilm on vaginal epithelial cells. The standard method for quantifying the bacterial burden of BV biofilm using Escherichia coli as a reference has limitations. A novel qPCR standard using different combinations of vaginal bacteria was proposed to accurately quantify bacterial burden in vaginal microbial communities, which showed superior accuracy compared to the traditional E. coli reference standard.
FRONTIERS IN CELLULAR AND INFECTION MICROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Lucia G. V. Sousa, Carina Almeida, Christina A. Muzny, Nuno Cerca
Summary: Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a common vaginal infection worldwide. A peptide nucleic acid (PNA) probe targeting Prevotella bivia, a common BV-associated bacteria, was developed, and a multiplex approach for detection of Gardnerella spp., P. bivia, and Fannyhessea vaginae was optimized. The P. bivia PNA probe specifically detected the target species, and the optimized multiplex approach could identify the presence of these three species in multi-species BV biofilms.
NPJ BIOFILMS AND MICROBIOMES
(2023)
Review
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Lucia G. V. Sousa, Sofia A. Pereira, Nuno Cerca
Summary: Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a common cause of vaginal discharge and is often problematic in pregnant women. BV is caused by an imbalance in the vaginal microbiota, leading to the overgrowth of bacteria that produce lactic acid and hydrogen peroxide. The treatment of BV with antibiotics is often associated with high recurrence rates. Various alternative strategies including probiotics, acidifying agents, antiseptics, and plant-based products are being studied to improve treatment success.
MICROBIAL BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Infectious Diseases
Maria Margarida Barros, Joana Castro, Daniela Araujo, Ana Maria Campos, Ricardo Oliveira, Sonia Silva, Divanildo Outor-Monteiro, Carina Almeida
Summary: This review summarizes the epidemiological challenge of swine colibacillosis caused by Escherichia coli, highlighting the role of antibiotic use in animal practices in the emergence of multidrug-resistant strains. It discusses the diversity, resistance, and virulence profiles of pathogenic ETEC strains and emphasizes their importance as zoonotic agents.
Article
Polymer Science
Mariana Tomas, Lucia G. V. Sousa, Ana Sofia Oliveira, Carolina P. P. Gomes, Ana Palmeira-de-Oliveira, Carlos Cavaleiro, Ligia Salgueiro, Nuno Cerca, Jose Martinez-de-Oliveira, Rita Palmeira-de-Oliveira
Summary: We aimed to incorporate Thymbra capitata essential oil (TCEO), a potent antimicrobial natural product against BV-related bacteria, in a suitable drug delivery system. Vaginal sheets were used as the dosage form to provide immediate relief for BV symptoms. The vaginal sheets containing TCEO showed promising bioadhesive profiles, flexibility, and structure, and were able to significantly reduce bacterial load. Although toxicity was observed at certain concentrations, the short treatment period may limit or reverse this toxicity.
Article
Veterinary Sciences
Alice Ferreira, Daniela Silva, Carina Almeida, Maria Elisa Rodrigues, Sonia Silva, Joana Castro, Dalila Mil-Homens, Isidro Garcia-Menino, Azucena Mora, Mariana Henriques, Ana Oliveira
Summary: This study evaluated the efficacy of phage vB_EcoM_FJ1 (FJ1) in reducing the load of pathogenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) and found that encapsulated FJ1 in microparticles significantly reduced the quantity of ETEC. Bacteriophage-insensitive mutants (BIMs) displayed weaker adaptability in the pig model.
VETERINARY RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Microbiology
Fernando Oliveira, Tania Lima, Alexandra Correia, Ana Margarida Silva, Cristina Soares, Simone Morais, Samira Weisselberg, Manuel Vilanova, Holger Rohde, Nuno Cerca
Summary: This study reveals the pivotal role of the iron-regulated loci hts and fhuC in biofilm formation and survival of Staphylococcus epidermidis within the host, providing important insights for future therapeutic strategies against infections caused by this pathogen.
MICROBIOLOGY SPECTRUM
(2022)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Rosa M. F. Baptista, Paulo E. Lopes, Ana Rita O. Rodrigues, Nuno Cerca, Michael S. Belsley, Etelvina de Matos Gomes
Summary: This study investigates the self-assembly of two N-tert-butoxycarbonyl (Boc) protected analogues of diphenylalanine dipeptide and their incorporation into electrospun fibers. The results reveal unconventional dual self-assembly and quantum confinement effects due to the formation of nanostructures. Additionally, the dipeptides generate high output voltages through the piezoelectric effect.
MATERIALS ADVANCES
(2022)