Mycotoxins and disease in Egypt

The cause of most human cancer is not known, but the preponderance of evidence implicates environmental agents. Almost all known environmental carcinogens have been shown to be mutagens, which suggests that they act as initiators of carcinogenesis. Several studies proved the association of mycotoxins and liver disease in Egypt. Mycotoxins, both known and yet to be discovered, could contribute both as initiators and as tumor promoters. Similarly, mycotoxins could be responsible for a variety of unexplained diseases in developing countries, many of which, such as the unusually frequent incidence of kidney and liver diseases in Egypt, are poorly documented. Mycotoxins are of greater concern in developing countries, where the hot and humid conditions that favor fungal growth are frequently found, and where they often lack the capital to provide storage facilities adequate to prevent fungal growth. Foreign aid grains have additional problems not faced with locally grown grains, including extended storage and shipping times, selection for poor quality at the donor country and poorly managed distribution system in the recipient countries. In Egypt, although extensive studies have been made on aflatoxins, little is known about the mode of action of other carcinogenic and mutagenic mycotoxins. More extensive epidemiological studies are needed to determine the role of mycotoxins to human carcinogenesis. The progressive increase in the number of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma HCC in Egypt has attracted the attention to study some factors including food habits that could be implicated in the pathogenesis of such malignancy. Several epidemiological studies have associated the exposure status of people to aflatoxins B-1 as being important in the etiology of liver cancer in Egypt. It was reported that many types of food samples as corn, broad beans, coffee beans were found to contain aflatoxins, ochratoxins, fumonisin, zearalenone, and vomitoxin. Several positive associations were found between incidence of human liver and kidney diseases and mycotoxicosis in Egypt.