PURPOSE: Nanobacteria have been reported to induce various pathologic calcifications like atherosclerosis and nephrolithiasis, and they do so by forming an apatite envelope, however, this concept is still controversial. We tried to elucidate whether nanobacteria might be related with urinary calcium stone by performing comparative study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study included 38 urinary stone patients who were proved to have calcium-containing stones and 37 healthy adults without urinary stone disease as controls. The subjects' age and gender were well matched between both groups. For the detection of nanobacteria, the serum and urine of all subjects were collected and western blotting for the samples was performed. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the positive rate of nanobacteria from the serum samples between stone and control groups (52.6% vs 48.6%, respectively, p=0.465). But on the urine samples, the stone group showed a significantly higher positive rate than the control group (71.1% vs 21.6%, respectively, p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Nanobacteria might have a relation with urinary calcium stone disease.
Adult ; Atherosclerosis ; Bacteria ; Blotting, Western ; Calcifying Nanoparticles* ; Calcium* ; Humans ; Nephrolithiasis ; Urinary Calculi ; Urolithiasis

PURPOSE: We aimed to investigate the detection of nanobacteria (NB) from expressed prostatic secretions (EPS) in patients with category III chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) and from vaginal swabs in patients with vaginitis by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and to evaluate the association between NB and Neisseria gonorrhea, Chlamydia trachomatis, Ureaplasma urealyticum (U. urealyticum), Mycoplasma hominis, Trichomonas vaginalis, and Mycoplasma genitalium. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A group of 11 men attending a specialized CP/CPPS clinic and a group of 157 women who reported symptoms of lower genital tract infection were enrolled in this study. NB were detected by RT-PCR. A Seeplex Sexually Transmitted Disease Detection assay (Seegene Inc., Seoul, Korea) was used that could detect DNA for 6 types of sexually transmitted pathogens. RESULTS: In EPS samples, the detection rate of NB in patients with CP/CPPS was 9.1%, and 9 (5.7%) of 157 vaginitis patients showed positive results in RT-PCR for NB in vaginal swabs. Associations observed among the 7 microorganisms included 6 (54.5%) patients who tested positive on EPS and 75 (47.8%) patients who tested positive on vaginal swabs. Five patients with vaginitis were found to have monoinfection of NB (6.7%). CONCLUSIONS: We found that conventional RT-PCR for NB was rapid, simple, low in cost, and easily available for the detection of NB, and that NB may be a possible etiological factor for vaginitis and CP/CPPS. The prevalence of U. urealyticum among the four patients with NB coinfection was 75%; the presence of U. urealyticum might therefore raise suspicion for nanobacterial infection.
Calcifying Nanoparticles ; Chlamydia trachomatis ; Coinfection ; DNA ; Female ; Gonorrhea ; Humans ; Male ; Mycoplasma ; Mycoplasma hominis ; Nanoparticles ; Neisseria ; Pelvic Pain ; Prevalence ; Prostatitis ; Reproductive Tract Infections ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase ; Sexually Transmitted Diseases ; Trichomonas vaginalis ; Ureaplasma urealyticum ; Vaginitis