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. 2011 Mar;52(3):194-9.
doi: 10.4111/kju.2011.52.3.194. Epub 2011 Mar 18.

Detection of nanobacteria in patients with chronic prostatitis and vaginitis by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction

Tae-Hyoung Kim  1 , Hye Ryoun Kim, Soon-Chul Myung
Affiliations

Detection of nanobacteria in patients with chronic prostatitis and vaginitis by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction

Tae-Hyoung Kim et al. Korean J Urol. 2011 Mar.

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Nanoparticles; Prostatitis; Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction; Vaginitis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have nothing to disclose.

Figures

FIG. 1
FIG. 1
Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction for nanobacteria. M: size marker, Pt: patient with vaginitis, NC: negative control, bp: base pair.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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