ArticlePLoS pathogens2020
The cervicovaginal mucus barrier to HIV-1 is diminished in bacterial vaginosis.
Article in PLoS pathogens, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 54 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
54 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 74 citations in OpenAlex.
- Contribution ofFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2021Pooled it
- The Impact of the Vaginal Microbiome and Microbial Metabolites on HIV Transmission at the Female Reproductive Tract Epithelial Barrier.American journal of reproductive immunology (New York, N.Y. : 1989) · 2026Review
- Comparing Asymptomatic Versus Symptomatic Bacterial Vaginosis: Clinical Characteristics, Vaginal Microbiota, and Lactic Acid Profiles.Sexually transmitted diseases · 2026Article
- Innate Immune Protection Against HIV in the Female Genital Tract.American journal of reproductive immunology (New York, N.Y. : 1989) · 2026Review
- Vaginal bacteria-derived extracellular vesicles diffuse through human cervicovaginal mucus to enable microbe-host signaling.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2026Article
- Innate immune responses to pathogens at the maternal-fetal interface.Nature reviews. Immunology · 2025Review
- Microbial regulators of physiological and reproductive health in women of reproductive age: their local, proximal and distal regulatory roles.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2025Review
- Host-microbe interactions characterized by gene expression of cervical adhesion molecules, cytokines, and growth factors define the recurrence of bacterial vaginosis.Research square · 2025Article
- The role of cervical microbiome in cervical incompetence: insights from 16 S rRNA metagenomic sequencing.BMC microbiology · 2025Article
- Harnessing microbial nanobiotics: Lactobacillus extracellular vesicles as next-generation therapeutics across physiological systems.World journal of microbiology & biotechnology · 2025Review
- Assessment of the vaginal microbiota before and after use of hyperosmolal lubricant during transvaginal ultrasound.American journal of obstetrics and gynecology · 2025Article
- Leveraging the microbiome to combat antibiotic resistant gynecological infections.npj antimicrobials and resistance · 2025Review
- Innate lymphoid cells in HIV pathogenesis and in the human female genital tract.Current opinion in HIV and AIDS · 2025Review
- Locally administered nanosuspension increases delivery of estradiol for the treatment of vaginal atrophy in mice.Drug delivery and translational research · 2025Article
- Impact of bacterial vaginosis on sexually transmitted viral infections: a bacterial point of view.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2025Review
- Sexual Violence, Genital Cytokines, and Colposcopy Findings: A Cross-Sectional Study of Women Engaged in Sex Work in Mombasa, Kenya.Sexually transmitted diseases · 2025Article
- Review
- Article
- Phase variable colony variants are conserved acrossmSphere · 2024Article
- Hypotonic, gel-forming delivery system for vaginal drug administration.Journal of controlled release : official journal of the Controlled Release Society · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Bacterial vaginosis (BV), a condition in which the vaginal microbiota consists of community of obligate and facultative anaerobes rather than dominated by a single species of Lactobacillus, affects ~30% of women in the US. Women with BV are at 60% increased risk for HIV acquisition and are 3-times more likely to transmit HIV to an uninfected partner. As cervicovaginal mucus (CVM) is the first line of defense against mucosal pathogens and the home of the resident vaginal microbiota, we hypothesized the barrier function of CVM to HIV may be diminished in BV. Here, we characterized CVM properties including pH, lactic acid content, and Nugent score to correlate with the microbiota community composition, which was confirmed by 16S rDNA sequencing on a subset of samples. We then quantified the mobility of fluorescently-labeled HIV virions and nanoparticles to characterize the structural and adhesive barrier properties of CVM. Our analyses included women with Nugent scores categorized as intermediate (4-6) and BV (7-10), women that were either symptomatic or asymptomatic, and a small group of women before and after antibiotic treatment for symptomatic BV. Overall, we found that HIV virions had significantly increased mobility in CVM from women with BV compared to CVM from women with Lactobacillus crispatus-dominant microbiota, regardless of whether symptoms were present. We confirmed using nanoparticles and scanning electron microscopy that the impaired barrier function was due to reduced adhesive barrier properties without an obvious degradation of the physical CVM pore structure. We further confirmed a similar increase in HIV mobility in CVM from women with Lactobacillus iners-dominant microbiota, the species most associated with transitions to BV and that persists after antibiotic treatment for BV. Our findings advance the understanding of the protective role of mucus and highlight the interplay between vaginal microbiota and the innate barrier function mucus.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.