Differences in Metabolic Profiles of CTL and VVC
In order to identify the differences in the metabolic profile of the CTL
and VVC groups, the vaginal metabolites were analyzed in healthy
individuals and VVC patients. The established PCA model revealed
clusters in the VVC group that were significantly alienated from the CTL
group on both PC1 and PC2 in positive and negative modes (Fig. 2A). A
supervised PLS-DA model was obtained with two principal predictive
components, which indicated a clear dispersion between the two groups
(Fig. 2B). Furthermore, a permutation test of the PLS-DA model was
implemented. The R2 and Q2 intercept values were (0.0, 0.639) and (0.0,
-0.751) in positive mode between CTL and VVC groups, while the R2 and Q2
intercept values were (0.0, 0.758) and (0.0, -0.554) in negative mode
(Fig. 2C). The above results suggested that the metabolism of the CTL
group was significantly different from that of the VVC group.