Food toxin may cause liver cancer: study

A toxin produced by mold on grains can cause liver cancer for large amount of consumption, researchers at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) has said.

"It's shocking how profoundly these molds can affect public health," Sheryl Tsai, associate professor in biochemistry and pharmaceutical sciences was quoted as saying by a study published in the journal Nature on Thursday.

It is the first time scientists have discovered what triggers the toxin to form, which could lead to methods of limiting its production.

Reports said about 4.5 billion people in developing countries are chronically exposed to vast amounts of this toxin, called aflatoxin, which is often hundreds of times higher than safe levels.

In some countries, the combination of aflatoxin and hepatitis Bvirus exposure increases the likelihood of liver cancer occurrence by 60 times, and toxin-related cancer causes up to 10 percent of all deaths in those nations.

Tsai, graduate student Tyler Korman and undergraduate Oliver Kamari-Bidkorpeh, along with Johns Hopkins University researchers, jointly discovered that a protein called PT is critical for aflatoxin to form in fungi.

Tsai said protein PT is key to making the poison. With this knowledge, scientists could kill the PT with drugs, inhibiting the mold’s ability to make aflatoxin.

Aflatoxin can colonize and contaminate nuts and grains before harvest or during storage. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration considers it an unavoidable food contaminant but sets maximum allowable limits.

The traditional way of decontamination is to destroy the mold rather than just the PT, but it is expensive and costs hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide.

Researchers held that this finding would lead to an increased understanding of how aflatoxin causes liver cancer in humans.

The finding also provides insight into the mechanism of carcinogen production as well as an Achilles' heel that can be targeted by new generations of inhibitors.

Source: Xinhua