Vaginal Microbiome HPV Self-Screening for Cervical Cancer Prevention CSR Project

Vaginal Microbiome Data Collection for HPV Self-Screening for enhanced cervical cancer prevention

Objective

• This work proposes to collect samples of vaginal microbiome for HPV infected and healthy women for understanding the nexus between microbiome and HPV infection. Furthermore, the data will be used to identify biomarkers in the HPV infected women which will be useful to develop self-screening roadmaps for performing community level screening at low-cost.

Description

• The vaginal microbiome is a key regulator of cervical health. A healthy microbiome helps in maintaining a protective, acidic environment. Conversely, an imbalanced state known as dysbiosis may be linked to chronic inflammation, including HPV infection., A limited systematic nexus between vaginal microbiome and persistent HPV infections and cervical cancer is performed for the Indian cohort. To understand this nexus, it is important to collect the data for the vaginal microbiome for both healthy and HPV infected individuals.

Impact

• The project will help develop a large-scale solution through self-screening for HPV infection and cervical cancer in diverse and underserved communities of India. It will also help towards the national mission of cervical cancer free India.