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Fumonisin B(1) is genotoxic in human derived hepatoma (HepG2) cells

Veronika Ehrlich1, Firouz Darroudi, Maria Uhl

  • 1Institute of Cancer Research, University of Vienna, Borschkegasse 8a, A-1090 Vienna, Austria.

Mutagenesis
|April 25, 2002
PubMed

Insights

Fumonisin B(1) (FB(1)), a corn toxin, causes DNA damage in human liver cells. This genotoxic effect supports its suspected role as a human carcinogen.

Area of Science:

  • Toxicology
  • Genetics
  • Carcinogenesis

Background:

  • Fumonisin B(1) (FB(1)) is a widespread Fusarium toxin found in corn.
  • FB(1) is known to cause liver tumors in rodents and is a suspected human carcinogen.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the genotoxic potential of FB(1) in human-derived cells.
  • To assess FB(1)'s clastogenic and mutagenic effects.

Main Methods:

  • Micronucleus (MN) and single cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE) assays were performed on human hepatoma (HepG2) cells.
  • Salmonella microsome assays (Ames test) with HepG2-derived S9 mix were conducted.

Main Results:

  • FB(1) induced a dose-dependent genotoxic effect in HepG2 cells at concentrations ≥ 25 μg/ml.
  • No mutagenic effect (his(+) revertants) was observed in Salmonella strains.
  • FB(1) demonstrated clastogenic activity in human cells.

Conclusions:

  • FB(1) is clastogenic in human-derived hepatoma cells.
  • The findings support the hypothesis that FB(1) may act as a genotoxic carcinogen in humans.

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