Vaginal lipidomics of women with vulvovaginal candidiasis and cytolytic vaginosis: A non-targeted LC-MS pilot study

Abstract

Objective To characterize the lipid profile in vaginal discharge of women with vulvovaginal candidiasis, cytolytic vaginosis, or no vaginal infection or dysbiosis. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Genital Infections Ambulatory, Department of Tocogynecology, University of Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo–Brazil. Sample Twenty-four women were included in this study: eight with vulvovaginal candidiasis, eight with cytolytic vaginosis and eight with no vaginal infections or dysbiosis (control group). Methods The lipid profile in vaginal discharge of the different study groups was determined by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and further analyzed with MetaboAnalyst 3.0 platform. Main outcome measures Vaginal lipids concentration and its correlation with vulvovaginal candidiasis and cytolytic vaginosis.