Cancer and Mold Toxins: Another Way Indoor Mold Harms Humans

[Guest guest]

Please pray for me. A breast biopsy done on Monday showed ductal

carcinoma and I see my doctor later today to discuss treatment

options. I will be taking this article with me. Mold exposure in

our former home, 2001-2006.

Patti

http://www.personalconsult.com/articles/moldandbiotoxins/cancerandmold

toxins.html

Cancer and Mold Toxins:

Another Way Indoor Mold Harms Humans

L Schaller, MD

Dr. Wang and Groopman from the Environmental Health Sciences

Department at s Hopkins, published a useful article on the

effects of mold toxins on DNA published in Mutation Research -- a

leading cancer journal. They said clearly:

Mycotoxins are toxic fungal metabolites which are structurally

diverse, common contaminants of the ingredients of animal feed and

human food. To date, mycotoxins with carcinogenic potency in

experimental animal models include aflatoxins, sterigmatocystin,

ochratoxin, fumonisins, zearalenone, and some Penicillium toxins.

Most of these carcinogenic mycotoxins are genotoxic agents with the

exception of fumonisins, which is currently believed to act by

disrupting the signal transduction pathways of the target cells.

Aflatoxin B1 [is] a category I known human carcinogen and the most

potent genotoxic agent, is mutagenic in many model systems and

produces chromosomal aberrations, micronuclei, sister chromatid

exchange, unscheduled DNA synthesis, and chromosomal strand breaks,

as well as forms adducts in rodent and human cells....More

strikingly, the relationship between aflatoxin exposure and

development of human hepatocellular carcinoma ... was demonstrated by

[other ] studies...

Mutat Res. 1999 Mar 8;424(1-2):167-81.

Aflatoxin Found In Human Breast Cancer Tissue

on et al. (1993) examined human breast cancer tissue for

evidence of the presence of aflatoxin, a recognized potent

carcinogenic mycotoxin. The researchers examined human DNA from a

variety of tissues and organs to identify and quantify aflatoxin DNA-

adducts. Such adducts are considered to be proof of the mycotoxin's

presence in a particular tissue. (These researchers had already

proved the value of this method in the detection of aflatoxin-DNA

adducts in tissue from a case of acute aflatoxin poisoning in

Southeast Asia.)

DNA from normal and tumorous tissue obtained from patients with

cancer of the breast was examined. Tumor tissues had higher aflatoxin-

adduct levels than did normal tissue from the same individual.

The result of this study is that it verifies the presence of

carcinogenic aflatoxin within the cancer tissue and thus implicates

aflatoxin as a cause of breast cancer.

Cyclosporin (A Mycotoxin) Causes Breast Cancer In Humans

Cyclosporin is a fungal derived drug. It is classified as a mycotoxin

in the mycology literature (Betina [1989]).

1. Vogt et al. (1990) reported the occurrence of de novo

malignant tumors occurring in 598 renal transplant recipients who

were immunosupressed with cyclosporin.

Eighteen of 598 patients receiving their first renal graft along with

cyclosporin treatment between 1981 and 1986 developed a malignancy at

a mean interval of 33 months. The cyclosporin-induced cancers

included breast cancer.

2. Escribano-Patino et al. (1995) reported the occurrence of

breast cancer as a complication of cyclosporin use in their series of

kidney transplant recipients.

3. Penn and First (1986) reported 88 tumors in eighty-seven

organ transplant recipients after the use of cyclosporin.

Malignancies appeared an average of 14 months after the cyclosporin

treatment. There was a surprising frequency of endocrine-related

malignancies (ovarian, testicular and breast) among these

malignancies.

Aflatoxin Induces Malignant Changes In Human Breast Cells

Eldridge et al. (1992) noted that some environmental chemicals are

stored in human breast fat which are documented to be rodent mammary

carcinogens. These researchers stressed the importance of determining

the cancer potential of environmental agents in this key target

tissue.

An assay was developed for detecting cancer potential using cultures

of normal human breast epithelial cells derived from 5 different

women. A positive response was observed with aflatoxin.

The conclusion of this study was that aflatoxin causes normal human

breast cells to become cancerous.

Could Moldy Cheese Causes Breast Cancer?

One sample study is by Le et al. (1986), in a French case-control

study of 1,010 breast cancer cases and 1,950 controls with

nonmalignant diseases, found that breast cancer was found to be

associated with increased frequency of mold-fermented cheese

consumption.

Oxalic Acid (A Mycotoxin) Found In Breast Cancer Lesions

Going et al. (1990) found that weddellite (calcium oxalate) crystals

are present in calcifications found in the breast tissue of patients

with breast cancer. Calcium oxalate crystals are formed when calcium

binds with oxalic acid. In human and animal systems, this is a

protective process which considerably reduces the severe toxicity of

oxalic acid. Oxalic acid is a powerful corrosive agent and oxalate

salts are widely used for their cleaning and bleaching properties!

Oxalic acid happens to be a mycotoxin which can be produced by a

number of different fungal species. Some fungi produce such large

amounts of oxalic acid that they are used for commercial production

of the chemical.

Aspergillus niger fungal infection in human lungs produces large

amounts of oxalic acid which is extremely toxic to the blood vessels

and which may cause fatal pulmonary hemorrhages. Consequently, oxalic

acid (calcium oxalate crystals) in the sputum or lung specimens of

patients is also an indication of an Aspergillus infection of the

lung. These calcium oxalate crystals are the same as the calcium

oxalate found in breast cancers.

The presence of oxalates in the breast is indicative of the presence

of fungi interwoven within the stages of breast cancer development.

Since humans do not make oxalic acid themselves, this is an

appropriate conclusion.

Breast Oxalate Calcifications In Mammograms

et al. (1993) examined calcifications found in breast

mammograms and evaluated their relationship to the risk of subsequent

breast cancer. The presence, morphology, and distribution of

calcifications visualized on baseline mammograms of 686 women who

developed breast cancer over a 7- to 10-year follow-up period were

compared with those of 1,357 controls who remained cancer free. It

was found that there was a significant correlation between such

calcifications and subsequent development of breast cancer.

Breast Cancer Calcifications Decrease With Tamoxifen (Antifungal)

Treatment

and Georgian- (1994) reported the regression of breast

cancer in four patients who had been treated with tamoxifen. The

patients were closely monitored with physical examination and

mammography for a minimum of 2 years.

In all cases, the features of malignancy which were seen on

mammograms regressed. These results were documented by a decrease in

the number of calcifications and in the size of spiculated masses.

These results suggest that these breast calcifications are dynamic in

nature, being able to regress as effective treatment reduces the

cancer.

Comment

The presence of oxalate calcifications in the breasts of virtually

every patient with breast cancer, and their subsequent regression as

a result of treatment with the antifungal agent tamoxifen, points to

the strong possibility that there is a fungal role in this cancer.

There have even been reports of fungal cells growing out of cancer

cells. The existence of a viable fungal sub-forms--with its DNA co-

mixed with a human's own DNA--could well explain the bizarre

appearance of the DNA in cancer cells. Support for such a " science

fiction " type scenario is found in the observation that a lectin

staining procedure, used to find " invisible " fungi in tissue

specimens, happens to identify breast cancer cells. Normal cells do

not stain with these same lectin staining procedures.

The lectin stain is also taken up by strange multinucleated giant

cells which suggests that these cells may, in fact, be fungal cells.

This could explain the presence of oxalates in breast cancer tissue,

a metabolite produced by fungi and not by humans. It might also help

explain how breast cancer is caused by a number of fungal-fermented

foods, particularly those made with Baker's or Brewer's Yeast (both

being Saccharomyces cerevisiae), known producers of uric acid which

degrades to oxalic acid (Costantini [1989]).

Baker's yeast is used to make bread, a documented cause of breast

cancer in Japanese women. Brewer's yeast is used to make many

alcoholic beverages, all of which are known to cause breast cancer in

every country where the connection has been investigated, a fact

which is well documented. Other research some feel beer and wine

mycotoxins increase breast cancer above chance.

T-2 Toxin Causes Breast Tumors

Schoental et al. (1979) reported that breast cancers were induced in

rats which were dosed with T-2 Toxin.

T-2 Toxin is a Fusarium toxin frequently found in the human food

chain. The fact that T-2 Toxin induced breast cancer in an animal

model is most significant, for this cancer occurs so often in humans.

Furthermore, antibodies against Fusarium fungi are frequently found

in human blood. These fungi and their toxins are the most frequently

encountered contaminants found in animal feed and human foods. See

also Saito (1971) and Corrado (1971), both of whom induced breast

cancer in mice using moldy rice and its extracts.

Ochratoxin Causes Breast Tumors

Fibroadenomas in the mammary gland were found in over half of a group

of female mice which were dosed with ochratoxin (Boorman [1988]). In

humans, fibroadenoma is a documented risk factor for breast cancer

(Dupont et al. [1994]).

Ochratoxin Causes Breast Fibroadenomas

Huff (1991) investigated the carcinogenicity of ochratoxin, a

naturally occurring mycotoxin of the fungal genera Aspergillus and

Penicillium, which was studied in three strains of mice and in one

strain of rats.

It was found that fibroadenomas of the mammary glands were induced by

ochratoxin administration. In humans, fibroadenoma is a documented

long-term risk factor for breast cancer (Dupont et al. [1994]).

Penicillic Acid/Patulin Cause Breast Adenomas And Breast Sarcomas

Penicillic acid was found to induce mammary adenomas, as well as

local sarcomas and fibrosarcomas in mice and rats. Patulin was also

reported to cause mammary adenomas in mice and rats (Dickens and

[1965], Dickens [1967]). See also Ciegler et al. (1971).

Verrucarin Induced Breast Tumors

Jodczyk (1984) was able to induce breast tumors in mice by exposing

them to a derivative of the mycotoxin verrucarin E.

Moldy Rice Extract Causes Breast Cancer

Mammary cancers (breast cancers) were induced by feeding an alcohol

extract of moldy rice to animals (Corrado [1971]). See also Saito

(1971).

This is hardly a complete presentation of this topic, but it is

merely offered to allow reflection on the troubling action of some

mycotoxins.

I would like to thank the editorial research of three World Health

Organization Scholars for the sample references above:

A.V. COSTANTINI, M.D.

Head, World Health Organization (WHO)

Collaborating Center For Mycotoxins In Food

HEINRICH WIELAND, M.D.

Medical Director, World Health Organization (WHO)

Collaborating Center For Mycotoxins in Food

LARS 1. QVICK, M.D., Ph.D.

Co-Medical Director, World Health Organization (WHO)

Collaborating Center For Mycotoxins In Food