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Epidemiological evidence support the idea that CST I, L. crispatus-dominated vaginal microbiota, could protect women form cervical HPV infection also favoring the HPV clearance. Our prospective, multi-center, randomized, placebo-controlled trial on 62 women newly diagnosed of HPV infection without visible cervical lesions at colposcopy, was mainly aimed at evaluating the role exerted by the oral treatment (daily, 4 months) with the strain L. crispatus M247 in prompting the HR-HPV clearance and CST shift. The results of our study demonstrated that the probiotic treatment significantly increased versus control: (i) the HPV clearance (60% versus 31.8%), and (ii) the number of negative PAP tests (83.3% versus 71.4%), favoring also the vaginal microbiota eubiosis. Particularly, the vaginal microbiota analysis demonstrated a significant relationship between the observed HPV clearance and: (i) a reduced richness; (ii) an increased relative presence of L. crispatus; and (iii) an increased number of women with a CST I microbiota. While a larger study would further strengthen these findings, the current evidence provides encouraging insights into the potential efficacy of the oral treatment with the strain L. crispatus M247.
Pierro et al. (Wed,) studied this question.