Figure 4. Vaginal microbiome richness and diversity indices associated with disease status (normal, LSIL, HSIL and cervical cancer patients).
The number of species observed increased with disease severity with lowest richness observed in healthy controls and highest in HSIL and ICC (A). Diversity, as assessed by Inverse Simpson (B) and non-parametric Shannon (C) indices followed the same pattern. KEY - HSIL: High-grade squamous intra-epithelial lesion; ICC: invasive cervical cancer; LSIL: Low-grade squamous intra-epithelial lesion; Sobs: Species observed; ** = P < 0.01; *** = P < 0.001.