Women with BV at baseline, defined as a Nugent score ≥7 (n = 5), had significantly higher vaginal levels of IL-1α, sE-cad and MMP9 compared to BV negative women (Supplementary Fig. 2; IL-1α medianBV+ = 132,805.22 pg/ml versus medianBV− = 23,507.52 pg/ml, p = 0.004; sE-cad medianBV+ = 1,809,061.52 pg/ml versus medianBV- = 58,387.16 pg/ml, p = 0.001; MMP9 medianBV+ = 2,259,137.51 pg/ml versus medianBV− = 314,963.46 pg/ml, p = 0.006; respectively). Here, MMP9 is linked to bacterial vaginosis.