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. 2020 May 6;12(5):299.
doi: 10.3390/toxins12050299.

Corn Flour Intake, Aflatoxin B1 Exposure, and Risk of Esophageal Precancerous Lesions in a High-Risk Area of Huai'an, China: A Case-Control Study

Shaokang Wang  1 , Da Pan  1 , Ting Zhang  1 , Ming Su  2 , Guiju Sun  1 , Jie Wei  1 , Ziqi Guo  1 , Kai Wang  2 , Guang Song  2 , Qingyang Yan  2
Affiliations

Corn Flour Intake, Aflatoxin B1 Exposure, and Risk of Esophageal Precancerous Lesions in a High-Risk Area of Huai'an, China: A Case-Control Study

Shaokang Wang et al. Toxins (Basel). .

Abstract

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), which has potent toxicity and carcinogenicity, is a common contaminant of important agricultural commodities. This study aimed to investigate the frequency of corn flour intake and assess the exposure to AFB1 via direct detection of AFB1 in the diet and serum AFB1 exposure biomarker, so as to evaluate their associations with the risk of esophageal precancerous lesions (EPL). A case-control study based on three-day duplicate diet samples was performed in Huai'an District. One hundred EPL cases and 100 healthy controls were enrolled and required to be age- (±2 years) and gender-matched. The concentration of AFB1 in food samples and the level of serum AFB1-albumin (AFB1-Alb) adduct were quantitatively analyzed. Results showed that corn flour intake was positively associated with serum AFB1-Alb adduct level (p for trend = 0.003), dietary AFB1 exposure (p for trend < 0.001), and the risk of EPL (p for trend = 0.017). Increased serum AFB1-Alb adduct level was associated with an increased risk of EPL as well (p for trend < 0.001). In conclusion, corn flour may be an essential source of AFB1 in Huai'an District, whereas high exposure to AFB1 is likely to be an important risk factor contributing to the progression of EPL.

Keywords: Aflatoxin B1 exposure; corn flour intake; duplicate diet; esophageal precancerous lesion; serum biomarker.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Location of Huai’an District in China. Reprinted from Map of Huai’an District by Bajiu internet services, 29 March 2020, retrieved from https://bajiu.cn/ditu/?qh=20671. Copyright 2006–2020 by Bajiu internet services. Texts and indicators were added with Microsoft Word 2007 (Microsoft Inc., Redmond, WA, USA) (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Box and whiskers plot of serum AFB1-Alb adduct level in EPL cases and healthy controls. The box values range from 25 to 75 percentiles. The line within the box represents the median. The T-shaped bars at both sides of the box represent 5 and 95 percentiles of data. The dots and asterisks represent outliers and extremes, respectively.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Scatter plot of correlation between dietary AFB1 exposure and serum AFB1-Alb adduct level. Each dot’s horizontal position indicates a subject’s dietary AFB1 exposure (in μg/d) and the vertical position indicates the subject’s serum AFB1-Alb adduct level (in pg/mL).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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