Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA.
British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2024;64(27):9955-9973. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2023.2219336. Epub 2023 Jun 7.
Shortly after its discovery in 1960, aflatoxin - a group of fungal toxins or mycotoxins produced by the fungi and in food crops such as maize, peanuts and tree nuts - was found to cause liver cancer in humans and multiple animal species. Hence, regulations on maximum allowable aflatoxin levels in food worldwide have focused on protecting humans from aflatoxin's carcinogenic effects. However, aflatoxin may also have non-carcinogenic health effects (e.g., immunotoxicity) that are particularly relevant today. Our current review highlights the growing evidence that aflatoxin exposure adversely affects immunity. Here, we comprehensively evaluated human and mammalian animal studies that link aflatoxin exposure with adverse effects on the immune system. We organized the review by organism as well as by the effects on adaptive and innate immune functions. There is abundant evidence that aflatoxin exhibits immunotoxicity, and therefore may compromise the ability of both humans and animals to resist infections. However, the reported effects of aflatoxin on certain specific immune biomarkers are inconsistent in the existing literature. The extent of the immunotoxic effects of aflatoxin must be clarified, so that the contribution of such immunotoxicity to the overall burden of aflatoxin-related diseases can be established.
1960 年发现黄曲霉毒素后不久，人们发现这种真菌毒素和霉菌在玉米、花生和坚果等农作物中产生的一组真菌毒素或霉菌毒素会导致人类和多种动物的肝癌。因此，全球范围内针对食品中黄曲霉毒素允许含量的规定主要侧重于保护人类免受黄曲霉毒素的致癌作用。然而，黄曲霉毒素也可能对健康产生非致癌影响（例如免疫毒性），而这些影响在今天尤为重要。我们目前的综述强调了越来越多的证据表明黄曲霉毒素暴露会对免疫产生不利影响。在这里，我们全面评估了将黄曲霉毒素暴露与免疫系统的不良反应联系起来的人类和哺乳动物动物研究。我们根据生物体以及对适应性和先天性免疫功能的影响来组织综述。有大量证据表明黄曲霉毒素具有免疫毒性，因此可能损害人类和动物抵抗感染的能力。然而，现有文献中关于黄曲霉毒素对某些特定免疫生物标志物的影响并不一致。必须阐明黄曲霉毒素的免疫毒性程度，以便确定这种免疫毒性对黄曲霉毒素相关疾病总体负担的贡献。
