Kajander, E. Olavi | Search NASA

NASA NTRS2007

Persistent Seroconversion after Accidental Eye Exposure to Calcifying Nanoparticles

Biosafety of nanomaterials has attracted much attention recently. We report here a case where accidental human eye exposure to biogenic nanosized calcium phosphate in the form of calcifying nanoparticles (CNP) raised a strong IgG immune response against proteins carried by CNP. The antibody titer has persisted over ten years at the high level. The IgG was detected by ELISA using CNPs propagated in media containing bovine and human serum as antigen. The exposure incident occurred to a woman scientist (WS) at a research laboratory in Finland at 1993. CNP, also termed "nanobacteria", is a unique self-replicating agent that has not been fully characterized and no data on biohazards were available at that time. Before the accident, her serum samples were negative for both CNP antigen and anti-CNP antibody using specific ELISA tests (Nanobac Oy, Kuopio, Finland). The accident occurred while WS was harvesting CNP cultures. Due to a high pressure in pipetting, CNP pellet splashed into her right eye. Both eyes were immediately washed with water and saline. The following days there was irritation and redness in the right eye. These symptoms disappeared within two weeks without any treatment. Three months after the accident, blood and urine samples of WS were tested for CNP cultures (2), CNP-specific ELISA tests, and blood cell counts. Blood cell counts were normal, CNP antigen and culture tests were negative. A high IgG anti-CNP antibody titer was detected (see Figure). The antibodies of this person have been used thereafter as positive control and standard in ELISA manufacturing (Nano-Sero IgG ELISA, Nanobac Oy, Kuopio, Finland).

Ciftcioglu, Neva↗

NASA NTRS2006

A Preliminary Analysis of Calcifying Particles in the Serum and Prostates of Patients with Prostatic Inflammation

Chronic diseases of the prostate such as benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) & chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS) have associated findings of chronic inflammation, despite a lack of causal relationship. Numerous attempts to define an infectious agent responsible for the clinical findings have been inconsistent. The possibility of an infectious agent, that has not been uncovered with routine culturing methods, forms the basis for this study. Serum from 940 healthy Finnish men were compared with serum from 40 Crohn's, 40 path dx prostatitis, & 40 with path dx carcinoma, using an enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA), to detect antigens specific to Nanobacteria(NB) utilizing monoclonal antibodies (Ab) 5/3 and 8D10. This ELISA has not been validated for detecting NB-associated with clinical prostatic disease, yet cross-reactivity with other bacterial species is low. Immunohistochemistry was performed on de-paraffinized prostatic tissue slides, de-calcified with EDTA and stained with the DAKO Catalyzed Signal Amplification kit, employing 8D10 as the primary (target/antigen-detecting) Ab. The mean (plus or minus SD) & median concentrations of NB antigen (U/50 L) were 379.59 (plus or minus 219.28) & 640.00 for patients with prostatitis (BPH) vs 3.31 (plus or minus 3.55) & 2.94 for prostate adenocarcinoma, 1.88 (plus or minus 2.94) & 0.80 for Crohn's disease, & 7.43 (plus or minus 25.57) & 0.00 for patients with no clinical prostatic disease. Unpaired t-tests revealed statistically significant differences between the prostatitis (BPH) sera & each of the other groups with p less than 0.005, but no differences between the other groups themselves. Preliminary studies with immunohistochemistry & 3-D confocal microscopy reveal 16/24 tissue sections + for NB Ag in BPH vs. only 2/22 tissue sections with prostate cancer. The preliminary findings of this serum screening study suggest that NB antigen may be commonly found in the serum of patients with the pathological diagnosis of prostatitis. Preliminary immunohistologic studies, suggest that NB may be found within the gland itself at a higher rate in patients with BPH relative to patients with adenocarcinoma, however confirmatory studies with a more specific ELISA technique, primary cultures, & with larger numbers of patients in a prospective design are required to determine if 1) NB are a causative organism for clinical hyperplastic and inflammatory disease, & if 2) serological testing can be used to discriminate patients with nanobacterial-associated prostatic disease.

Jones, Jeffrey A.↗

NASA NTRS2006

Nanobacteria: Fact or Fiction? Characteristics, Detection and Medical Importance of Novel Self-Replicating, Calcifying Nanoparticles

There is some debate in microbiology as to whether Nanobacteria (NB) are alive. This paper reviews some aspects of NB. In summary, Nanobacteria is a perfect model for studying biogenic mineralization/calcification because NB a) are self-replicating particles and have less complicated metabolic pathways b) accumulate calcium and phosphate under physiological conditions, c)produce a calcium phosphate mineral similar to bone, d) exist in physical conditions (pH, gravity, temperature, etc) that are easy to manipulate, and which can be replicated for the physiological model.

Ciftcioglu, Neva↗