Protect yourself from the traitors of star wars in the vagina
- audrone8
- Apr 24, 2024
- 2 min read
Did you know, that we have the bacteria called Lactobacillus ineris, it was first described just in 1999 (1) (I would say freshly found as in bacteria world), it is a common bacteria of the vaginal microbiome.
Despite it is Lactobacillus, it is kind of more traitor, although tries to show itself as a friend. It is present in a healthy microbiome, but it don't mind to be friends with pathogens and even do quite serious harm.
Today scientists look at our microbiome as either healthy – where good bacteria (Lactboacilli) lives and dominates the environment, either good bacteria were concurred by the bad ones (e.g. Gardnerella vaginalis, which cause bacterial vaginosis) and is dominated by pathogenic bacteria or fungi (e.g. Candida). This situation is called dysbiosis and we really feel it when it appears – it’s not a pleasant situation (sometimes it appears sneaky and silently without the symptoms). So, L. ineris is present in both situations – it is here when Lactobacilli bacteria dominates microbiome and says- “Hi I’m a good guy” and it is here, when pathogens win the battle and does together them it’s malevolence.
According scientists it offers overall less protection against vaginal dysbiosis (well mildly said), because it self subsequently, leads to Bacterial Vaginosis and sexually transmitted infections. (1)
According studies, when we have a lot of L. ineris during pregnancy it might show increased risk of pathologies, like preterm labor and others. (2)
According the fresh study of 2023, Lactobacillus iners in patients having tumor lowers their survival percentage and even helps cervical cancer cells to resist the treatment of chemotherapy and radiation. L. iners was found in anal, vaginal, vulvar, colorectal, and lung cancers but, not unexpectedly, extremely rarely, since L. iners is a commensal vaginal microbe. (3)
So good that we have a real friends in our microbiome and can avoid L. ineris.
References
1. Nengneng Zheng et al. Contribution of Lactobacillus iners to Vaginal Health and Diseases: A Systematic Review. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2021 Nov 22:11:792787.doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2021.792787. eCollection 2021. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34881196/
2. J Mls. Et al. Lactobacillus iners-dominated vaginal microbiota in pregnancy. Ceska Gynekol. 2019 Winter;84(6):463-467. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31948257/
3. Lauren E Colbert et al. Tumor-resident Lactobacillus iners confer chemoradiation resistance through lactate-induced metabolic rewiring. Cancer Cell. 2023 Nov 13;41(11):1945-1962.e11.doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2023.09.012. Epub 2023 Oct 19. https://www.cell.com/cancer-cell/fulltext/S1535-6108(23)00328-8
