Transformation of Brevibacillus, a soil microbe to an uropathogen with hemagglutination trait

Exploring the bladder tissue microbiome in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer using 2bRAD-M sequencing

Objectives

The 2bRAD sequencing for Microbiome (2bRAD-M) represents an innovative and streamlined approach for the reconstruction of microbial profiles at the species level. In our investigation, we conducted 2bRAD-M analysis to characterize the microbiome of bladder tissue in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC).

Methods

15 tumor tissues and 15 paired para-carcinoma tissues were obtained from the bladder excised during surgery. 2bRAD-M sequencing was used to assess the abundance of microorganisms in samples.

Results

The microbial community structure and biodiversity, as assessed at varying taxonomic ranks, exhibited a high degree of similarity between the tumor and paired non-tumor tissues. At the genus level, we observed a notably elevated abundance of Brachybacterium and Haloparvum, coupled with a diminished abundance of Anoxybacillus, Anoxybacillu_A, Deinococcus, NCEH01, and Pseudoxanthomonas_A in the tumor tissues. Meanwhile, at the species level, the non-tumor tissues exhibited an enrichment of Anoxybacillus_A rupiensis, Anoxybacillus flavithermus_G, Klebsiella quasipneumoniae, NCEH01 sp002304505, and Pseudoxanthomonas_A sp004284195. Linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) identified 29 discriminative features, characterized by significant variations (p<0.5, LDA≥2.0) in relative abundance between the two groups. Furthermore, an analysis of functional predictions utilizing Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States 2 (PICRUSt2) also uncovered disparities in the microbial functional composition.

Conclusions

This study identified several microorganisms that exhibit differences between MIBC tumor tissue and adjacent non-tumor tissue using 2bRAD-M sequencing, providing some insights into the potential association between the bladder microbiome and cancer.

A Case of Brevibacillus brevis Meningitis and Bacteremia

Brevibacillus species are environmental organisms that are rarely implicated as human pathogens. We present the case of postsurgical Brevibacillus brevis bacterial meningitis and an associated bacteremia after debulking surgery for a newly diagnosed pilocytic astrocytoma in a 19-year-old woman. The patient experienced clinical cure with a 4-week course of vancomycin, but her postinfectious course was complicated by the development of a pseudomeningocele that required surgical repair. To our knowledge, this is the first described case of a central nervous system infection caused by Brevibacillus brevis in the literature.