Lactobacillus iners–Centered Vaginal Microbiota Modules in Early Pregnancy and Risk of Perinatal Complications
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Perinatal complications such as spontaneous preterm birth, preterm premature rupture of membranes, cervical insufficiency, and recurrent miscarriage may share disruption of the cervical-vaginal ecosystem. We investigated whether network-level characterization of the early-pregnancy vaginal microbiota was associated with subsequent perinatal complications. In this single-center observational cohort study, vaginal swabs were collected at 8–12 weeks of gestation from 113 pregnant women. Species-level 16S rRNA sequencing showed high concordance with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry, exceeding 82.4% for the most abundant species and reaching 100% when the two most abundant species were considered. Hierarchical clustering identified one Lactobacillus-dominant group and four anaerobe-dominant subgroups. In the most dysbiotic subgroup, characterized by Gardnerella, Fannyhessea, and Megasphaera, the only detectable Lactobacillus species was Lactobacillus iners. Co-occurrence network analysis further placed L. iners in the same module as bacterial vaginosis-associated taxa, distinct from Lactobacillus crispatus. This L. iners/bacterial vaginosis-associated module was significantly associated with recurrent miscarriage and spontaneous preterm birth, whereas the L. crispatus-centered module tended to be enriched in women without complications. These findings support network-based vaginal microbiota assessment in early pregnancy as a potential tool for identifying women at increased risk of subsequent perinatal complications.
Source: Research Square
Language: English
Subfield: Microbiology
Field: Immunology and Microbiology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225759592