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Abstract
The mycotoxin ochratoxin A (OTA), a well-known human nephrotoxic and carcinogenic agent, is a public health concern in many countries. Exposure is assessed by means of mycotoxin analysis in food commodities and by human biomonitoring of OTA in blood samples. Data available from several European countries and some studies in Africa, Asia, and the Americas indicate frequent detection of OTA. Thus far, data from developing countries that compare blood levels in healthy and diseased individuals are scarce. Thus, the aim of this investigation was to determine OTA levels in blood samples of bladder cancer patients (n = 96) and healthy controls (n = 31) from Pakistan. OTA in blood plasma was analyzed after extraction by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection. Among samples of 87 cancer patients and 30 controls, 92% in total contained quantifiable amounts of OTA. In bladder cancer cases the median OTA concentration was 0.19 ng/ml (mean 0.296; range: 0.03 to 3.41 ng/ml), and in healthy controls the median OTA was 0.19 ng/ml (mean 0.3; range: 0.04 to 1.24 ng/ml). The OTA levels found in the Pakistanian cohorts were comparable to those reported previously for the general population in the European Union. In conclusion, OTA is not likely to play a major role in the etiology of bladder cancer in the Karachi cohort, at least as the sole risk factor.