Tumor-induced osteomalacia with elevated fibroblast growth factor 23: a case of phosphaturic mesenchymal tumor mixed with connective tissue variants and review of the literature

Tumor-induced osteomalacia (TIO), or oncogenic osteomalacia (OOM), is a rare acquired paraneoplastic disease characterized by renal phosphate wasting and hypophosphatemia. Recent evidence shows that tumor-overexpressed fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) is responsible for the hypophosphatemia and osteomalacia. The tumors associated with TIO are usually phosphaturic mesenchymal tumor mixed connective tissue variants (PMTMCT). Surgical removal of the responsible tumors is clinically essential for the treatment of TIO. However, identifying the responsible tumors is often difficult. Here, we report a case of a TIO patient with elevated serum FGF23 levels suffering from bone pain and hypophosphatemia for more than three years. A tumor was finally located in first metacarpal bone by octreotide scintigraphy and she was cured by surgery. After complete excision of the tumor, serum FGF23 levels rapidly decreased, dropping to 54.7% of the preoperative level one hour after surgery and eventually to a little below normal. The patient's serum phosphate level rapidly improved and returned to normal level in four days. Accordingly, her clinical symptoms were greatly improved within one month after surgery. There was no sign of tumor recurrence during an 18-month period of follow-up. According to pathology, the tumor was originally diagnosed as "glomangioma" based upon a biopsy sample, "proliferative giant cell tumor of tendon sheath" based upon sections of tumor, and finally diagnosed as PMTMCT by consultation one year after surgery. In conclusion, although an extremely rare disease, clinicians and pathologists should be aware of the existence of TIO and PMTMCT, respectively.

Unraveling the Acidithiobacillus caldus complete genome and its central metabolisms for carbon assimilation

Acidithiobacillus caldus is one of the dominant sulfur-oxidizing bacteria in bioleaching reactors. It plays the essential role in maintaining the high acidity and oxidation of reduced inorganic sulfur compounds during bioleaching process. In this report, the complete genome sequence of A. caldus SM-1 is presented. The genome is composed of one chromosome （2,932,225 bp） and four plasmids （pLAtcl, pLAtc2, pLAtc3, pLAtcm） and it is rich in repetitive sequences （accounting for 11% of the total genome）, which are often associated with transposable genetic elements. In particular, twelve copies of ISAtfe and thirty-seven copies of ISAtcl have been identified, suggesting that they are active transposons in the genome. A. caldus SM-1 encodes all enzymes for the central metabolism and the assimilation of carbon compounds, among which 29 proteins/enzymes were identifiable with proteomic tools. The SM-1 fixes CO2 via the classical Calvin-Bassham--Benson （CBB） cycle, and can operate complete Embden-Meyerhof pathway （EMP）, pentose phosphate pathway （PPP）, and gluconeogenesis. It has an incomplete tricarboxylic acid cycle （TCA）. Four putative transporters involved in carbohydrate uptake were identified. Taken together, the results suggested that SM-1 was able to assimilate carbohydrates and this was subsequently confirmed experimentally because addition of 1% glucose or sucrose in basic salt medium significantly increased the growth of SM-1. It was concluded that the complete genome of SM-1 provided fundamental data for further investigation of its physiology and genetics, in addition to the carbon metabolism revealed in this study.

Soil microbiomes divergently respond to heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in contaminated industrial sites

Contaminated sites from electronic waste(e-waste)dismantling and coking plants feature high concentrations of heavy metals(HMs)and/or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons(PAHs)in soil.Mixed contamination(HMsþPAHs)hinders land reclamation and affects the microbial diversity and function of soil microbiomes.In this study,we analyzed HM and PAH contamination from an e-waste dismantling plant and a coking plant and evaluated the influences of HM and PAH contamination on soil microbiomes.It was noticed that HMs and PAHs were found in all sites,although the major contaminants of the e-waste dismantling plant site were HMs(such as Cu at 5,947.58±433.44 mg kg^(-1),Zn at 4,961.38±436.51 mg kg^(-1),and Mn at 2,379.07±227.46 mg kg^(-1)),and the major contaminants of the coking plant site were PAHs(such as fluorene at 11,740.06±620.1 mg kg^(-1),acenaphthylene at 211.69±7.04 mg kg^(-1),and pyrene at 183.14±18.89 mg kg^(-1)).The microbiomes(diversity and abundance)of all sites were determined via high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA genes,and redundancy analysis was conducted to investigate the relations between soil microbiomes and contaminants.The results showed that the microbiomes of the contaminated sites divergently responded to HMs and PAHs.The abundances of the bacterial genera Sulfuritalea,Pseudomonas,and Sphingobium were positively related to PAHs,while the abundances of the bacterial genera Bryobacter,Nitrospira,and Steroidobacter were positively related to HMs.This study promotes an understanding of how soil microbiomes respond to single and mixed contamination with HMs and PAHs.