Dataset Information

Smoking and the Vaginal Microbiome

ABSTRACT:

The focus of this study was to better understand the effects of cigarette smoking on the vaginal microbiome. There were two phases of the study, cross-sectional and longitudinal, conducted at the Center for Health Behavior Research at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. In the cross-sectional phase, 20 smokers and 20 non-smokers collected mid-vaginal swabs, measured their vaginal pH, prepared a vaginal smear on a slide for Nugent Gram stain analysis, and completed questionnaires about demographics, tobacco use, and reproductive and sexual health history. Smoking status was confirmed through self-report, carbon monoxide exhalation and saliva cotinine measures. Secretions from the mid-vaginal swabs were tested for presence/absence of HPV strains and GC-MS was used to quantify the levels of over 600 metabolites.

In the longitudinal phase, 7 participants who were current smokers and motivated to quit smoking were recruited and followed for up to 12 weeks. On a daily basis, participants collected mid-vaginal swabs, measured their vaginal pH, and prepared a mid-vaginal smear on a slide for Nugent Gram stain analysis, and completed daily diaries on tobacco use and reproductive health. Carbon monoxide exhalation and saliva cotinine measures were collected at weekly clinical visits. In addition, participants had weekly behavioral counseling sessions about smoking cessation and used Nicoderm CQ patches to aid in quitting smoking. The self-collected vaginal swabs were used for DNA extractions,16s rRNA sequencing and measurement of metabolites in vaginal fluid.

PROVIDER: phs001386 | dbGaP |

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA391038PRJNA391039

REPOSITORIES: dbGaP

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			Action	DRS
	GapExchange_phs001386.v1.p1.xml	Xml
	dbGaPEx2.1.5.xsd	Other
	Study_Report.phs001386.SmokingAndVaginalMicrobiome.v1.p1.MULTI.pdf	Pdf
	manifest_phs001386.SmokingAndVaginalMicrobiome.v1.p1.c1.GRU-IRB.pdf	Pdf
	datadict_v2.xsl	Other

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Project description:Maternal smoking has a severe negative effect on all stages of pregnancy that in consequence impairs fetal growth and development. Tobacco smoke-related defects are well established at the clinical level; however, little is known about molecular mechanisms underlying these pathological conditions. We thus employed a genomic approach to determine transcriptome alterations induced by maternal smoking in pregnancy. We assayed gene expression profiles in peripheral blood (M) leukocytes and placentas (PL) of pregnant smokers and those without significant exposure, and in cord blood (D) leukocytes of their babies. Comparative analyses defined significant deregulation of 193 genes in M cells, 329 genes in placentas, and 49 genes in D cells of smokers. These genes were mainly involved in xenobiotic metabolism, oxidative stress, inflammation, immunity, hematopoiesis, trophoblast differentiation, and vascularization. Functional annotation of the deregulated genes outlined processes and pathways affected by tobacco smoke. In smoker newborns, we identified several deregulated pathways associated with autoimmune diseases. The study demonstrates a limited ability of placenta to modulate toxic effects of maternal tobacco use at the gene expression level. Blood and placental samples were obtained from 91 women who gave birth to a baby in the Ceske Budejovice Hospital from November 2008 to March 2009. The study was approved by the Local Institutional Review Board. All participants provided written informed consent and completed an extensive questionnaire on pregnancy history (medication, diseases), delivery course, newborn characteristics and life style (smoking, diet, alcohol drinking, area of residency). Only subjects who underwent vaginal delivery were included in the study. Based on smoking history, the women were divided into two groups, “smokers” (N=20) and “non-smokers” (N=52), while passive smokers (N=19) were excluded from the study. Smoking status was further confirmed by detection of excessive plasma levels of cotinine (the major nicotine metabolite) in maternal blood.

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Smoking and the Vaginal Microbiome

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