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Meta-Analysis
. 2022 Jun 24;19(13):7754.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19137754.

Mycotoxin-Linked Mutations and Cancer Risk: A Global Health Issue

Theodora Ekwomadu  1   2 , Mulunda Mwanza  1 , Alfred Musekiwa  3
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Mycotoxin-Linked Mutations and Cancer Risk: A Global Health Issue

Theodora Ekwomadu et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Humans continue to be constantly exposed to mycotoxins, mainly through oral exposure (dietary), inhalation, or dermal contact. Recently, it has been of increasing interest to investigate mycotoxin-linked carcinogenicity. This systematic review was conducted to synthesize evidence of the association between mycotoxin-linked mutations and the risk of cancer, to provide an overview of the data linking exposure to different mycotoxins with human cancer risk, and to provide an update on current research on the risk of cancer associated with human exposure to mycotoxins. PRISMA guidelines were used when conducting the systematic review. PubMed, MEDLINE, and CINAHL electronic databases were comprehensively searched to extract the relevant studies published from inception to May 2022. A total of sixteen relevant studies (4907 participants) were identified and included in this review. Of these, twelve studies were from Asia, while four of the studies were conducted in Africa. The overall meta-analysis result found no significant association, although some of the studies confirmed an association between mycotoxin-linked mutations and primary liver cancer risk. Mainly, the experimental studies have shown associations between mycotoxin-linked mutations and cancer risk, and there is a need for researchers to confirm these links in epidemiological studies in order to guide public health policies and interventions.

Keywords: aflatoxin; cancer; exposure; food; fumonisin; fungal metabolites; mutation; mycotoxins.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict to interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA chart for studies on mycotoxin-linked mutations and cancer risk.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Forest plot of pooled meta-analysis result on association between mycotoxin-linked mutations and cancer risks [36,38,39,40,42,43,44,45,46,49].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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