Comparison of the diversity of the vaginal microbiota in HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected women with or without bacterial vaginosis

Background. Whether human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is associated with a change in the diversity of genital microbiota in women was investigated. Methods. Amplicon length heterogeneity polymerase chain reaction (LH-PCR) analysis and pyrosequencing of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene were used to analyze the diversity of the microbiota in HIV-positive (HIV+) and HIV-negative (HIV-) women with or without bacterial vaginosis (BV). Results. LH-PCR analysis revealed significantly more microbiota diversity in BV-positive (BV+) women than in BV-negative (BV-) women, but no significant difference was noted between HIV+ women and HIV- women. Pyrosequencing revealed that Lactobacillus organisms constituted a median of 96% of the bacteria in BV- women. BV+ women had a significantly higher number of taxa found at >= 1% of the total genital microbiota ( median, 11 taxa). Commontaxa in BV+ women were Prevotella, Megasphaera, Gardnerella, Coriobacterineae, Lachnospira, and Sneathia. There was a trend (P=.07) toward the presence of a higher number of taxa in HIV+ BV+ women than in HIV- BV+ women. Propionibacterineae, Citrobacter, and Anaerococcus were the taxa found only in HIV+ women (P <.05). Conclusions. The present study demonstrated that both LH-PCR analysis and pyrosequencing differentiated microbiota in BV+ women from that in BV- women and that pyrosequencing indicated a trend toward increased diversity in BV+ HIV+ women, suggesting that HIV infection is associated with changes in the diversity of genital microbiota.