Vaginal microbiome and cervical cancer.

Abstract

This narrative review analyzed the relationship between cervical cancer and the vaginal microbiome. It has been estimated that viruses and bac-teria cause 15% of all cancers. The development of molecular biology, genetics, and the use of high-throughput genomic sequencing techniques has allowed us not only to know the phenotypic component but also the genetic component of the vaginal microbiome and obtain a better knowledge and understanding of the behavior of the vaginal flora that was previously impossible to determine. The relation of the alterations in the vaginal flora by women’s habits, immunological status, and socioeconomic level has been established. Literature searches were performed electronically in PubMed, Medline, ISI, DOAJ, Springer, Embase, Web of Knowledge, and Google Scholar for original articles written in English and Sci-elo, Latindex, Imbiomed-L, Redalyc, and Google Scholar for original articles written in Spanish. The objective of this narrative review was to examine and analyze the literature on the alterations in the vaginal microbiome, their local protective effect and their possible contribution to the development of cervical cancer.