Vaginal homeostasis features of Vulvovaginal Candidiasis through vaginal
metabolic profiling
Abstract
Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is an inflammatory disease primarily
caused by candidiasis albicans infection. Metabolomics has been applied
to research a variety of inflammatory diseases. In the present study,
the vaginal metabolic profiles of VVC patients and healthy populations
were explored by a non-targeted metabolomics approach. In total, 211
differential metabolites were identified, with the VVC group having 128
over-expressed and 83 under-expressed metabolites compared with healthy
individuals. Functional analysis showed that these metabolites were
mainly involved in amino acid metabolism and lipid metabolism. In
addition, network software analysis indicated that the differential
metabolites were associated with MAPK signaling and NF-κB signaling.
Further molecular docking suggested that linoleic acid can bind to the
ACSL1 protein, which has been shown to be associated with multiple
inflammatory diseases and is an upstream regulator of the MAPK and NF-κB
signaling pathways that mediate inflammation. Therefore, our preliminary
analysis results suggest that VVC has a unique metabolic profile.
Linoleic acid, a significantly elevated unsaturated fatty acid in the
VVC group, may promote VVC development through the ACSL1/MAPK and
ACSL1/NF-κB signaling pathways. This study’s findings contribute to
further exploring the mechanism of VVC infection and providing new
perspectives for the treatment of Candida albicans vaginal infection.