Maternal-Fetal Cancer Risk Assessment of Ochratoxin A during Pregnancy.

Chit Woo,Hani El-Nezami

doi:10.3390/toxins8040087

Abstract

Increasing evidence has demonstrated that in utero exposure to environmental chemicals may interfere with fetal development and increase the risk of disease and cancer development later in life. Ochratoxin A (OTA) has been proven to induce diverse toxic effects including teratogenicity, carcinogenicity, immunotoxicity and potential endocrine disruption. Due to the continuous and widespread occurrence of OTA as a potential contaminant of staple foods, there is increasing concern of in utero exposure of fetus to this mycotoxin. In this study, maternal-fetal risk assessment of OTA during pregnancy was conducted using the benchmark dose approach for genotoxic carcinogens. The daily intake of OTA for Egyptian pregnant women was estimated based on their serum OTA level using the refined Klaassen equation for pregnancy. Fetal exposure level was also estimated based on the maternal data. Comparison between the estimated daily exposure and the negligible cancer risk intake (NCRI), and the calculation of margin of exposure (MOE) implicated that OTA exposure from dietary intake would be of low health concern for this general subpopulation of Egyptian women. This subpopulation of pregnant women was generally estimated not to be in high-risk for toxicity induced by OTA.

Highlights

Mycotoxins and mycotoxicosis have been increasingly recognized as an important international issue over the last three decades because of their detrimental health effects and global occurrence [1].Mycotoxins have been considered one of the most important chronic dietary risk factors [2]
Derived BMDL10 using the log-probit method was adjusted from 22.5 to 16.1 μg Ochratoxin A (OTA)/kg bw/day due to the fact that male rats were dosed for only five days a week
Instead of the nephrotoxic endpoint obtained from the 90-day pig study [21,22,23], cancer endpoint obtained from the National Toxicology Program (NTP) two-year rat gavage study was selected to be a more appropriate point of departure (PoD) for hazard characterization using the non-threshold approach

Summary

Introduction

Mycotoxins and mycotoxicosis have been increasingly recognized as an important international issue over the last three decades because of their detrimental health effects and global occurrence [1].Mycotoxins have been considered one of the most important chronic dietary risk factors [2]. Mycotoxins and mycotoxicosis have been increasingly recognized as an important international issue over the last three decades because of their detrimental health effects and global occurrence [1]. Scientific and systematic risk assessment on their occurrence as food contaminants in different localities and exposure of populations, in particular the vulnerable subpopulation of pregnant women and their fetuses, is important. There has been increasing interest in developmental toxicology with growing awareness that a comprehensive risk assessment should involve the assessment of in utero exposure and health effects [3]. Fetus has an exceptional vulnerability to detrimental health effects resulting from in utero exposure to environmental chemicals [4]. Gestation is a critical period for every species due to the involvement of important biological events such as organogenesis, developmental plasticity and endocrine programming. Increasing evidence has demonstrated that transplacental food-borne chemicals such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons [5], flavonoids [6], aspartame [7] and aflatoxins [8]

Results

Discussion

Conclusion