Of microbes and women: BRCA1, vaginal microbiota, and ovarian cancer

The human body is home to several niche-specific microbial communities (termed microbiota), which, through host–microbe networking, are thought to have an integral role in human physiology. Many observational studies have shown differences in terms of the composition of bacterial microbiota (and much less frequently of viral and fungal microbiota) between healthy people and those presenting with various conditions.1 Such differences are postulated to suggest that dysregulation of microbiota–host interactions (termed dysbiosis) is a putative disease mechanism in a myriad of conditions.