Hepatitis Monthly
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancers in the world but with a striking geographical variation in incidence; most of the burden is in developing countries. This geographic variation in HCC incidence might be due to geographic differences in the prevalence of various etiological factors.
Here, we review the epidemiological evidence linking dietary exposure to aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and risk of HCC, possible interactions between AFB1 and hepatitis B virus (HBV) or polymorphisms of genes involved in AFB1-related metabolism as well as DNA repair.
Ecological, case-control and cohort studies that used various measures of aflatoxin exposure including dietary questionnaires, food surveys and biomarkers are summarized.
Taken together, the data suggest that dietary exposure to aflatoxins is an important contributor to the high incidence of HCC in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, where almost 82% of the cases occur.
© 2012, Author(s). This open-access article is available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which allows for unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original work is properly cited.
Smolle E, Zhrer E, Bettermann K, Haybaeck J. Viral Hepatitis Induces Hepatocellular Cancer: What Can We Learn from Epidemiology Comparing Iran and Worldwide Findings?. Hepat Mon. 2012;12(10):7879. doi: https://doi.org/10.5812/hepatmon.7879
Yeganeh B, Hashemi M, J. de Serres F, J. Los M, Ghavami S. Different Faces of Hepatocellular Carcinoma as a Health Threat in 21st Century. Hepat Mon. 2013;13(2):e9308. doi: https://doi.org/10.5812/hepatmon.9308
Yazdanpanah H, Zarghi A, Shafaati AR, Foroutan SM, Aboul-Fathi F, et al. Analysis of Aflatoxin B1 in Iranian Foods Using HPLC and a Monolithic Column and Estimation of its Dietary Intake. Iran J Pharm Res. 2013;12(Suppl):e125633. doi: https://doi.org/10.22037/ijpr.2013.1275
Bashiry M, Yazdanpanah H, Sadeghi E, shokri S, Mirmoghtadaie L, et al. Occurrence of Aflatoxins in Commercial Cereal-based Baby Foods in Iran: A Probabilistic Risk Assessment to Health. Iran J Pharm Res. 2021;20(3):e124499. doi: https://doi.org/10.22037/ijpr.2021.114631.14961
Zidan A, Scheuerlein H, Schle S, Settmacher U, Rauchfuss F. Epidemiological Pattern of Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C as Etiological Agents for Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Iran and Worldwide. Hepat Mon. 2012;12(10):6894. doi: https://doi.org/10.5812/hepatmon.6894
Ordering Reprints
Articles are published under the Creative Commons license stated on each article. No permission or royalty fee is required for uses permitted by that license. CCC handles optional bulk and customized reprint orders. Any quotation covers production and delivery services only, not copyright permission. > Request Reprints from CCC
