Who is more likely to have recurrent UTIs? Bladder bacteria may be the key

“We found a very strong association between beneficial bacteria in the bladder and the use of estrogen hormone therapy in postmenopausal women,” said an assistant professor of biological sciences in the Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. Dr. Nicole de Nisco said. “Estrogen is important not only in regulating the reproductive process, but also in shaping the chemical environment throughout the body. If you lose this hormone, you lose all the benefits it provides.”

De Nisco is the corresponding author of the study, which was published online on September 30 and in print on October 18. cell report medicineResearchers found a strong correlation between so-called “good” bacteria and urinary estrogen in postmenopausal women with no history of UTI.

Urinary tract infections are one of the most common bacterial infections in adults and pose a particularly significant medical burden to women, with more than 50% of women suffering a UTI during their lifetime. Age is one of the strongest risk factors associated with UTI.

Working with Dr. Philippe Zimmern, Professor of Urology at UT Southwestern Medical Center, the UTD research team tested 75 postmenopausal women in three groups.

• Those who have no history of urinary tract infection.
• Those who had recurrent UTIs and had experienced UTIs at the time of testing.
• People with recurrent UTI but who had not experienced it at the time of testing.

Michael Neugent BS’13, MS’19, PhD’20, a postdoctoral fellow in De Nisco’s lab and lead author of the paper, said UTIs and estrogens form a group of all microbes called the microbiome. Research suggests that. For the urinary tract and reproductive organs of postmenopausal women.

“What we found is that women who are intermediately infected, that is, those who have a history of recurrent urinary tract infections but are currently urinary tract infection-negative, do not have the potential to cause disease in the urinary tract.” I had a microbiome full of good bacteria, but less good bacteria,” he said.

In contrast, many of the women who were on estrogen therapy did not have “bad” bacteria in their bladders. It is said that it is correlated with the predominance of good bacteria such as.

The researchers also found that the microbiome of women with recurrent UTIs contained more antibiotic resistance genes than women without a history of UTIs. They can be exchanged, and resistance spreads rapidly throughout bacterial populations, making infections more difficult to treat.

Antibiotics are somewhat effective at fighting disease-causing bacteria, but De Nisco says prescribing antibiotics when they aren’t needed is the biggest factor in UTI treatment, accelerating antibiotic resistance. said to be one of the obstacles.

“We can’t throw antibiotics into this problem, otherwise we won’t be able to break the cycle of recurring infections,” De Nisco said. We need to start thinking about therapy, rather we can use something like estrogen or do a combination of estrogen and probiotics.”

De Nisco said the new information could possibly guide the development of new screening and prevention tools. She is working on whole-cell vaccines and believes other solutions can be developed.

Dr. Kelli Palmer, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at UTD, is an expert on antibiotic resistance and one of the article’s authors. She said the study is important because it addresses an often overlooked demographic.

“This study addresses a critical unmet need in postmenopausal women’s health, which is typically not addressed in research,” said Palmer. “We need more research, new treatments, and more public attention for this chronic infection, chronic urinary tract infection, and the problem of older women.”

De Nisco and her team initiated a five-year longitudinal study to track the microbiome of postmenopausal women over time. In this study, there are women who experience recurrent UTIs and women who have no history of UTIs.

“Nobody has done this kind of longitudinal study in the urinary microbiome area,” said De Nisco. “Such studies are more difficult because they require patients to come back and provide samples.”

Other UTD contributors include: Neha Hulyalkar, PhD student in Biological Sciences. Belle M. Sharon BS’11, MBA’13, PhD Student in Biological Sciences. Amanda Arte, research engineer in biological sciences. Kevin Lutz, PhD student in Mathematical Sciences. Vivian H. Nguyen BS’20; Cong Zhang MS’19, PhD’20; Amber Nguyen BS’20; Tahmineh Ebrahimzadeh MS’21, PhD’22; Other authors are from UT Southwestern and the University of North Texas.

of cell report medicine This work was supported by grants to Dennisko from the National Institutes of Health, the Welch Foundation, and the Women’s Wellness Foundation. From the UT Dallas New Undergraduate Research Symposium Grant to De Nisco and Li. and from donations held by Palmer (Cecil H. and Ida Green Chair in Systems Biology Sciences) and Zimaan (Felecia and John Kane Distinguished Chair in Women’s Health).