Emerging evidence shows that the bladder is not sterile as previously thought. This evidence also shows that the resident bacterial community, the female urinary microbiome (FUM), may impact multiple urinary disorders, including urgency urinary incontinence, urinary tract infections and possibly urologic pain syndromes. The origins of urinary bacteria in healthy women may provide important insights into the bacterial cause of or contribution to urinary disorders. We anticipate major clinical implications as we advance knowledge concerning FUM dysbioses that can be quantified, predicted, prevented and/or modified. To advance that knowledge, we request funds to test the overarching hypothesis that the FUM is influenced by adjacent pelvic microbiomes (i.e., vaginal and perineal) and that FUM compositions are strongly associated with urinary symptoms and outcomes. We propose to characterize a pre-existing repository of urine samples and vaginal and perineal swabs obtained from >300 well-characterized adult women. Using 16S rRNA sequence analysis and innovative bioinformatics analysis, we will characterize the bacterial communities in these samples to investigate relationships between the FUM and the microbiomes of adjacent pelvic niches (Aim 1), and between each of these microbiomes and clinical findings (Aim 2). This information will be promptly shared with the wider urological research community via a dedicated web-based database (Aim 3), facilitating further study of diverse clinical conditions, and generating future hypotheses.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
Type
Exploratory Grants (P20)
Project #
1P20DK108268-01
Application #
9039783
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZDK1-GRB-S (O4))
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2015-09-15
Budget End
2016-07-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2015
Total Cost
$206,381
Indirect Cost
$64,553
Name
Loyola University Chicago
Department
Type
DUNS #
791277940
City
Maywood
State
IL
Country
United States
Zip Code
60153
Fok, Cynthia S; Gao, Xiang; Lin, Huaiying et al. (2018) Urinary symptoms are associated with certain urinary microbes in urogynecologic surgical patients. Int Urogynecol J 29:1765-1771
Brubaker, Linda; Wolfe, Alan J (2017) The female urinary microbiota, urinary health and common urinary disorders. Ann Transl Med 5:34
Brubaker, Linda; Wolfe, Alan J (2017) The Female Urinary Microbiota/Microbiome: Clinical and Research Implications. Rambam Maimonides Med J 8:
Gao, Xiang; Lin, Huaiying; Revanna, Kashi et al. (2017) A Bayesian taxonomic classification method for 16S rRNA gene sequences with improved species-level accuracy. BMC Bioinformatics 18:247
Brubaker, Linda; Wolfe, Alan J (2017) Microbiota in 2016: Associating infection and incontinence with the female urinary microbiota. Nat Rev Urol 14:72-74
Mueller, Elizabeth R; Wolfe, Alan J; Brubaker, Linda (2017) Female urinary microbiota. Curr Opin Urol 27:282-286
Dune, Tanaka J; Price, Travis K; Hilt, Evann E et al. (2017) Urinary Symptoms and Their Associations With Urinary Tract Infections in Urogynecologic Patients. Obstet Gynecol 130:718-725
Schwaderer, Andrew L; Wolfe, Alan J (2017) The association between bacteria and urinary stones. Ann Transl Med 5:32
Brubaker, Linda; Wolfe, Alan (2016) The urinary microbiota: a paradigm shift for bladder disorders? Curr Opin Obstet Gynecol 28:407-12