Microbiota of Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome are Distinct from Interstitial Cystitis/Bladder Pain Syndrome

Urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome patients include men chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) and patients, mainly women, with interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS or IC). CP/CPPS is marked by severe chronic pelvic pain of unknown etiology that is differentially associated with prostatic inflammation. Microbes are known to modulate sensory responses, and microbiota are increasingly understood to drive normal biological processes and pathogenesis, including inflammation. Recent studies have linked fecal dysbiosis with chronic pelvic pain in IC/BPS, suggesting a role for microbiota in modulating UCPPS pain. Similarly, dysbiosis has been reported in CP/CPPS patients, but the relationship between with the dysbiosis of IC/BPS patients is unclear. Here, we characterized the fecal microbiota of men with CP/CPPS and women and men with IC/BPS. Similar to recent reports, we identified fecal dysbiosis in men with CP/CPPS relative to healthy controls among specific phyla and overall differences in diversity and richness. Interestingly, we also observed differences between CP/CPPS microbiota and IC/BPS microbiota that were not likely due to sex differences. These findings suggest that CP/CPPS is marked by changes in the gut microbiome, but these changes differ from IC/BPS. Taken together, UCPPS appears associated with distinct dybioses among CP/CPPS and IC/BPS, raising the possibility of distinct contributions to underlying pelvic pain mechanisms and/or etiologies.