ABO blood group antigens influence host-microbe interactions and risk of early spontaneous preterm birth
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The mechanisms by which vaginal microbiota shape spontaneous preterm birth (sPTB) risk remain poorly defined. Using electronic clinical records data from 74,913 maternities in conjunction with metaxanomic (n=596) and immune profiling (n=314) data, we show that the B blood group phenotype associates with increased risk of sPTB and adverse vaginal microbiota composition. The O blood group associates with sPTB in women who have a combination of a previous history of sPTB, an adverse vaginal microbial composition and pro-inflammatory cervicovaginal milieu. In contrast, women of blood group A have a higher prevalence of vaginal Lactobacillus crispatus, a lower risk of sPTB, with sPTB cases showing no association with vaginal microbiota composition or inflammation. We found that cervicovaginal fluid contains ABH(O) glycans, and show variable binding to key vaginal bacteria. This indicates that cervicovaginal ABH(O) glycans influence microbiota-host interactions implicated in sPTB risk, suggesting a novel target for sPTB prediction and prevention.
Date Issued
2025-09-10
Date Acceptance
2025-07-07
Citation
npj Biofilms and Microbiomes, 2025, 11
ISSN
2055-5008
Publisher
Nature Portfolio
Journal / Book Title
npj Biofilms and Microbiomes
Volume
11
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2025. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
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Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN 170