Fig. 1

Association of bone marrow bacteria with bone lesion in patients with myeloma. A Magnetic resonance imaging scanning for myeloma patient lytic lesions in the spine. Arrows, lytic lesions. Scale bars, 5 cm. B HE staining sections of normal bone marrow (BM) or the images and close-up views of local destruction in the BM from two myeloma patients at the time of diagnose and at remission. Arrows, lytic lesions. Scale bars, 100 μm. C Immunohistochemical examination for LPS (Gram-negative bacteria marker) or LTA (Gram-positive bacteria marker) levels of normal bone marrow or the bone marrow from the patient with myeloma. Arrows, Bacteria. Scale bars, 50 μm. D qPCR analysis of healthy, newly diagnosed (New) and complete remission (CR) myeloma patients bone marrow aspirates bacterial 16S rRNA levels, as compared to DNA copies of host human RNase P in order to calculate the relative bacterial amount per biopsy sample relative to amount of host tissue. All P values were determined using one way ANOVA. E Correlation coefficient of 16S rRNA levels and the numbers of bone lesion in myeloma patients (n = 20). The correlations were evaluated using Pearson coefficient. r, correlation coefficient. P value was determined by Pearson coefficient