ArticleMicrobiome2022
Immune milieu and microbiome of the distal urethra in Ugandan men: impact of penile circumcision and implications for HIV susceptibility.
Article in Microbiome, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Beyond just correlation: causal machine learning for the microbiome, from prediction to health policy with econometric tools.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Pooled it
- Impact of antimicrobials on penile HIV susceptibility and immunology in uncircumcised men: A randomized phase 1/2 clinical trial.Cell reports. Medicine · 2024Trial
- HIV Transmission and Immunology of the Male Reproductive Tract.American journal of reproductive immunology (New York, N.Y. : 1989) · 2026Review
- Special Issue: New Horizons in HIV and Reproductive Health Research: HIV Acquisition and Reproductive Health in Key Populations.American journal of reproductive immunology (New York, N.Y. : 1989) · 2026Review
- Anaerobe-Driven Inflammation and Epithelial Barrier Disruption in Genital HIV Acquisition.American journal of reproductive immunology (New York, N.Y. : 1989) · 2026Review
- Pathological phimosis is associated with foreskin immune cell infiltration but not microbiota composition.mSphere · 2026Article
- Article
- Integrated analysis of extrachromosomal circular DNA and transcriptome reveals associations between microbial profiles and Immunoinflammatory markers in hypospadias.World journal of urology · 2026Article
- Composition and dynamics of the adult nasal microbiome.Microbiome · 2026Article
- The neovaginal microbiota, symptoms, and local immune correlates in transfeminine individuals with penile inversion vaginoplasty.Cell reports · 2025Article
- Real-time PCR assay design and validation for Prevotella bivia, Peptostreptococcus anaerobius, and Dialister micraerophilus, bacteria associated with increased HIV susceptibility.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Penile microbiomes have important implications for HIV susceptibility and broader reproductive health.Expert review of anti-infective therapy · 2025Article
- Dendritic cells and HIV transmission: roles and subsets of antigen-presenting cells in the human anogenital tract.PLoS pathogens · 2025Review
- Review
- HIV-associated penile anaerobes disrupt epithelial barrier integrity.PLoS pathogens · 2025Article
- Understanding the Associations of Urogenital Microbiomes With Fertility and In Vitro Fertilization.American journal of reproductive immunology (New York, N.Y. : 1989) · 2025Review
- Article
- Lower Semen Quality Among Men in the Modern Era-Is There a Role for Diet and the Microbiome?Microorganisms · 2025Review
- The Prevalence of Antibiotic Tolerance inPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Insertive vaginal sex is associated with altered penile immunology and enrichment of Gardnerella vaginalis in uncircumcised Ugandan men.American journal of reproductive immunology (New York, N.Y. : 1989) · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
16 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundCoronal sulcus (CS) anaerobe abundance and IL-8 levels are linked to HIV acquisition, and are dramatically reduced after penile circumcision (PC). The distal urethra may be the site of some HIV acquisition before PC, and presumably most acquisition post PC. We describe the immune milieu and microbiome of the distal urethra in uncircumcised Ugandan men, and define the impact of PC. Participants consisted of HIV-negative, genital symptom-free adult Ugandan men undergoing PC (n = 51). Urethral and coronal sulcus swabs were collected at baseline and at 6- and 12-months post-PC. Soluble immune factors were quantified by multiplex ELISA, and bacterial abundance assessed by 16S rRNA qPCR and sequencing.
resultsAt baseline, the urethra was enriched compared to the CS for most cytokines (including IL-8 and MIP-1β) and soluble E-cadherin (sE-cadherin, an epithelial disruption marker), although CS levels of IL-1α and IL-1β were higher. Baseline total bacterial abundance was ≥ 20-fold higher in the CS than the urethra (median 27,100 vs. 1200 gene copies/swab, p = 0.001), and anaerobes comprised 58% of CS bacteria vs. 42% of urethral bacteria. PC did not alter urethral IL-8 (median 806 at baseline vs. 1130 pg/ml at 12 months; p = 0.062) and urethral sE-cadherin increased (113,223 vs. 158,385 pg/ml, p = 0.009), despite five- and sevenfold drops in total bacterial and anaerobe abundance after PC, respectively. However, PC dramatically reduced CS levels of sE-cadherin (15,843 vs. 837 pg/ml, p < 0.001) and most cytokines (IL-8; 34 vs. 3 pg/ml, p < 0.001), while reducing total bacterial and anaerobe abundance by 13-fold and 60-fold, respectively (both P ≤ 0.004).
conclusionsThe urethra is immunologically rich with characteristics of an HIV-susceptible tissue site. However, PC had no impact on urethral immunology and may have reduced epithelial integrity, despite modest reductions in total bacteria and anaerobes, suggesting that HIV protection from PC is not mediated via immune or microbiome alterations in the urethra. Video abstract.
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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.