Abstract
A pilot study to investigate the occurrence of 10 mycotoxins (deoxynivalenol, DON; 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol, 3-ADON; 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol, 15-ADON; fusarenon-X, FUS-X; diacetoxyscirpenol, DAS; nivalenol, NIV; neosolaniol, NEO; zearalenone, ZON; zearalanone, ZAN; T-2 toxin, T-2; and HT-2 toxin, HT-2) in esophageal cancer patients was performed with the urinary biomarkers approach in Golestan, Iran. Urine multimycotoxin analysis was performed by dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction and gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (GC–MS/MS) analysis, and values were normalized with urinary creatinine (μg/g). Four mycotoxins, namely NEO (40%), HT-2 (17.6%), DON (10%), and HT-2 (5.8%), were detected in the analyzed urine samples. DON was only detected in the control group (5.09 μg/g creatinine), while T-2 (44.70 μg/g creatinine) was only present in the esophageal cancer group. NEO and HT-2 were quantified in both control and case groups, showing average of positive samples of 9.09 and 10.45 μg/g creatinine for NEO and 16.81 and 29.09 μg/g creatinine for HT-2, respectively. Mycotoxin co-occurrence was observed in three samples as binary (NEO/HT-2 and T-2/HT-2) and ternary (DON/NEO/HT-2) combinations, reaching total concentrations of 44.58, 79.13, and 30.04 µg/g creatinine, respectively. Further investigations are needed to explore a causal association between mycotoxin contamination and esophageal cancer. For this pilot study in Golestan, the low sample size was a very limiting factor.
Highlights
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites naturally produced by fungal species that commonly contaminate food and feed [1]
Regarding the esophageal cancer group, three samples (3/17) were positive for three of the analyzed mycotoxins (NEO, T-2, and HT-2), while DON was not detected in any urine samples from the esophageal cancer patients
NEO and HT-2 were quantified in both control and esophageal cancer groups, being the most detected mycotoxins in the control (40%) and the esophageal cancer group (5.8%), respectively
Summary
Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites naturally produced by fungal species that commonly contaminate food and feed [1]. Human exposure to mycotoxins is largely through the consumption of contaminated food; other mycotoxin sources such as occupational exposure and inhalation need to be considered [2]. Mycotoxins are harmful to human health as they may cause several toxic effects, which include teratogenicity, nephrotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, immunotoxicity, hematotoxicity, and hormonal alterations. Reproductive effects [3,4]. Some mycotoxins have been classified as carcinogenic to humans (aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, and G2) or possibly carcinogenic to humans (ochratoxin A, aflatoxin M1, fumonisins B1 and B1) by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) [5]. Deoxynivalenol (DON) causes acute effects such as nausea, diarrhea, reduced nutritional efficiency, gastrointestinal tract injuries, and weight loss in animals [6]
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