Skip to main content

Racial Differences in Vaginal Fluid Metabolites and Association with Systemic Inflammation Markers among Ovarian Cancer Patients: A Pilot Study.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Osazuwa-Peters, OL; Deveaux, A; Muehlbauer, MJ; Ilkayeva, O; Bain, JR; Keku, T; Berchuck, A; Huang, B; Ward, K; Gates Kuliszewski, M; Akinyemiju, T
Published in: Cancers (Basel)
March 23, 2024

The vaginal microbiome differs by race and contributes to inflammation by directly producing or consuming metabolites or by indirectly inducing host immune response, but its potential contributions to ovarian cancer (OC) disparities remain unclear. In this exploratory cross-sectional study, we examine whether vaginal fluid metabolites differ by race among patients with OC, if they are associated with systemic inflammation, and if such associations differ by race. Study participants were recruited from the Ovarian Cancer Epidemiology, Healthcare Access, and Disparities Study between March 2021 and September 2022. Our study included 36 study participants with ovarian cancer who provided biospecimens; 20 randomly selected White patients and all 16 eligible Black patients, aged 50-70 years. Acylcarnitines (n = 45 species), sphingomyelins (n = 34), and ceramides (n = 21) were assayed on cervicovaginal fluid, while four cytokines (IL-1β, IL-10, TNF-α, and IL-6) were assayed on saliva. Seven metabolites showed >2-fold differences, two showed significant differences using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test (p < 0.05; False Discovery Rate > 0.05), and 30 metabolites had coefficients > ±0.1 in a Penalized Discriminant Analysis that achieved two distinct clusters by race. Arachidonoylcarnitine, the carnitine adduct of arachidonic acid, appeared to be consistently different by race. Thirty-eight vaginal fluid metabolites were significantly correlated with systemic inflammation biomarkers, irrespective of race. These findings suggest that vaginal fluid metabolites may differ by race, are linked with systemic inflammation, and hint at a potential role for mitochondrial dysfunction and sphingolipid metabolism in OC disparities. Larger studies are needed to verify these findings and further establish specific biological mechanisms that may link the vaginal microbiome with OC racial disparities.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Cancers (Basel)

DOI

ISSN

2072-6694

Publication Date

March 23, 2024

Volume

16

Issue

7

Location

Switzerland

Related Subject Headings

  • 3211 Oncology and carcinogenesis
  • 1112 Oncology and Carcinogenesis
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Osazuwa-Peters, O. L., Deveaux, A., Muehlbauer, M. J., Ilkayeva, O., Bain, J. R., Keku, T., … Akinyemiju, T. (2024). Racial Differences in Vaginal Fluid Metabolites and Association with Systemic Inflammation Markers among Ovarian Cancer Patients: A Pilot Study. Cancers (Basel), 16(7). https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers16071259
Osazuwa-Peters, Oyomoare L., April Deveaux, Michael J. Muehlbauer, Olga Ilkayeva, James R. Bain, Temitope Keku, Andrew Berchuck, et al. “Racial Differences in Vaginal Fluid Metabolites and Association with Systemic Inflammation Markers among Ovarian Cancer Patients: A Pilot Study.Cancers (Basel) 16, no. 7 (March 23, 2024). https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers16071259.
Osazuwa-Peters OL, Deveaux A, Muehlbauer MJ, Ilkayeva O, Bain JR, Keku T, et al. Racial Differences in Vaginal Fluid Metabolites and Association with Systemic Inflammation Markers among Ovarian Cancer Patients: A Pilot Study. Cancers (Basel). 2024 Mar 23;16(7).
Osazuwa-Peters, Oyomoare L., et al. “Racial Differences in Vaginal Fluid Metabolites and Association with Systemic Inflammation Markers among Ovarian Cancer Patients: A Pilot Study.Cancers (Basel), vol. 16, no. 7, Mar. 2024. Pubmed, doi:10.3390/cancers16071259.
Osazuwa-Peters OL, Deveaux A, Muehlbauer MJ, Ilkayeva O, Bain JR, Keku T, Berchuck A, Huang B, Ward K, Gates Kuliszewski M, Akinyemiju T. Racial Differences in Vaginal Fluid Metabolites and Association with Systemic Inflammation Markers among Ovarian Cancer Patients: A Pilot Study. Cancers (Basel). 2024 Mar 23;16(7).

Published In

Cancers (Basel)

DOI

ISSN

2072-6694

Publication Date

March 23, 2024

Volume

16

Issue

7

Location

Switzerland

Related Subject Headings

  • 3211 Oncology and carcinogenesis
  • 1112 Oncology and Carcinogenesis