Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2018 Feb 22;19(1):13.
doi: 10.1007/s11934-018-0763-6.

The Role of the Genitourinary Microbiome in Pediatric Urology: a Review

Daniel Gerber  1 , Catherine S Forster  2   3 , Michael Hsieh  4   5
Affiliations
Review

The Role of the Genitourinary Microbiome in Pediatric Urology: a Review

Daniel Gerber et al. Curr Urol Rep. .

Abstract

Purpose of review: In this review, we highlight the effects of the microbiome on urologic diseases that affect the pediatric patient.

Recent findings: Perturbations in the urinary microbiome have been shown to be associated with a number of urologic diseases affecting children, namely urinary tract infection, overactive bladder/urge urinary incontinence, and urolithiasis. Recently, improved cultivation and sequencing technologies have allowed for the discovery of a significant and diverse microbiome in the bladder, previously assumed to be sterile. Early studies aimed to identify the resident bacterial species and demonstrate the efficacy of sequencing and enhanced quantitative urine culture. More recently, research has sought to elucidate the association between the microbiome and urologic disease, as well as to demonstrate effects of manipulation of the microbiome on various urologic pathologies. With an improved appreciation for the impact of the urinary microbiome on urologic disease, researchers have begun to explore the impact of these resident bacteria in pediatric urology.

Keywords: Genitourinary microbiome; Pediatric urology; Urinary incontinence; Urolithiasis; Urologic diseases.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Aragón IM, Herrera-Imbroda B, Queipo-Ortuño MI, Castillo E, del Moral JSG, Gómez-Millán J, et al. The urinary tract microbiome in health and disease. European Urology Focus. 2016; 10.1016/j.euf.2016.11.001. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Brubaker L, Wolfe AJ. The new world of the urinary microbiota in women. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2015;213(5):644–9. 10.1016/j.ajog.2015.05.032. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Alfano M, et al. The interplay of extracellular matrix and microbiome in urothelial bladder cancer. Nat Rev Urol. 2015;13: 77–90. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pearce MM. et al. The female urinary microbiome: a comparison of women with and without urgency urinary incontinence. MBio. 2014;5 Pearce et al. (2014) was of importance because it not only demonstrated differences in the urinary microbiome between patients with and without UUI but it also showed that there was variation in species of Lactobacillus in these patients. Importantly, Lactobacillus species that produce more lacticacid are more common in patients without UUI, while those that produce less lactic acid are more common in UUI sufferers. This suggests acification of the bladder microbiome could be protective, mirroring a similar hypothesis in the vaginal microbiome. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wolfe AJ, Toh E, Shibata N, Rong R, Kenton K, FitzGerald M, et al. Evidence of uncultivated bacteria inthe adult female bladder. J Clin Microbiol. 2012;50(4):1376–83. 10.1128/JCM.05852-11. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources