An infectious origin of extraskeletal calcification

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Abstract
Apparently idiopathic extraskeletal calcifications are a common medical problem (Table 1). Approximately 7% of adult men develop renal or bladder stones containing calcium mineral salts (1). Life-threatening calcification may occur after hemodialysis, in scleroderma, and in patients with sclerotic aortic valves. The stimuli for the calcium salt deposition in these conditions are unclear, but nidi for precipitation and crystallization are needed even under supersaturation conditions. Some diseases associated with prominent idiopathic extraskeletal calification In this issue of the Proceedings, Kajander and Çiftçioglu (2) show that a new class of bacteria, designated nanobacteria because of their small size (0.05–0.5 μm in diameter), produce sufficient calcium apatite to initiate pathologic calcification and stone formation. The nanobacteria were discovered in white films sticking to the surfaces of tissue culture vessels containing mammalian cells and media supplemented with bovine serum (3). A member of the Proteobacteria family, which includes Bartonella and Brucella species, the nanobacteria have distinctive properties, including heat resistance and the ability to pass through 0.1-μm sterilization filters (Table 2). Their most remarkable characteristic is the formation of carbonate apatite …