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Gil da Costa RM, Povey A, Medeiros-Fonseca B, Ramwell C, O'Driscoll C, Williams D, Hansen HCB, Rasmussen LH, Fletcher MT, O'Connor P, Bradshaw RHW, Robinson R, Mason J. Sixty years of research on bracken fern (Pteridium spp.) toxins: Environmental exposure, health risks and recommendations for bracken fern control. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 2024; 257:119274. [PMID: 38821456 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2024.119274] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2024] [Revised: 05/07/2024] [Accepted: 05/28/2024] [Indexed: 06/02/2024]
Abstract
Bracken fern (Pteridium spp.) is a highly problematic plant worldwide due to its toxicity in combination with invasive properties on former farmland, in deforested areas and on disturbed natural habitats. The carcinogenic potential of bracken ferns has caused scientific and public concern for six decades. Its genotoxic effects are linked to illudane-type glycosides (ITGs), their aglycons and derivatives. Ptaquiloside is considered the dominating ITG, but with significant contributions from other ITGs. The present review aims to compile evidence regarding environmental pollution by bracken fern ITGs, in the context of their human and animal health implications. The ITG content in bracken fern exhibits substantial spatial, temporal, and chemotaxonomic variation. Consumption of bracken fern as food is linked to human gastric cancer but also causes urinary bladder cancers in bovines browsing on bracken. Genotoxic metabolites are found in milk and meat from bracken fed animals. ITG exposure may also take place via contaminated water with recent data pointing to concentrations at microgram/L-level following rain events. Airborne ITG-exposure from spores and dust has also been documented. ITGs may synergize with major biological and environmental carcinogens like papillomaviruses and Helicobacter pylori to induce cancer, revealing novel instances of chemical and biological co-carcinogenesis. Thus, the emerging landscape from six decades of bracken research points towards a global environmental problem with increasingly complex health implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rui M Gil da Costa
- Department od Morphology, Federal University of Maranhão (UFMA), São Luís, 65080-805, Brazil; Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy (LEPABE), Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465, Porto, Portugal; Associate Laboratory in Chemical Engineering (ALiCE), Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465, Porto, Portugal; Molecular Oncology and Viral Pathology Group, Research Center of IPO Porto (CI-IPOP) / RISE@CI-IPOP (Health Research Network), Portuguese Oncology Institute of Porto (IPO Porto) / Porto Comprehensive Cancer Center (Porto.CCC), 4200-072, Porto, Portugal; Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environmental and Biological Sciences (CITAB), Institute for Innovation, Capacity Building and Sustainability of Agri-Food Production (Inov4Agro), 5001-801, Vila Real, Portugal.
| | - Andrew Povey
- Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, M13 9PL, UK
| | - Beatriz Medeiros-Fonseca
- Molecular Oncology and Viral Pathology Group, Research Center of IPO Porto (CI-IPOP) / RISE@CI-IPOP (Health Research Network), Portuguese Oncology Institute of Porto (IPO Porto) / Porto Comprehensive Cancer Center (Porto.CCC), 4200-072, Porto, Portugal; Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environmental and Biological Sciences (CITAB), Institute for Innovation, Capacity Building and Sustainability of Agri-Food Production (Inov4Agro), 5001-801, Vila Real, Portugal
| | - Carmel Ramwell
- Fera Science Ltd, York Biotech Campus, Sand Hutton, York, YO41 1LZ, UK
| | - Connie O'Driscoll
- Ryan Hanley Consulting Engineers Ltd., 1 Galway Business Park, Dangan, Galway, H91 A3EF, Ireland
| | - David Williams
- Centre for Chemical Biology, Department of Chemistry, Sheffield Institute for Nucleic Acids, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S3 7HF, UK
| | - Hans Chr B Hansen
- University of Copenhagen, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871, Frederiksberg C, Denmark
| | - Lars Holm Rasmussen
- Novonesis, Microbe & Culture Research, Bøge Allé 10-12, DK- 2970, Hørsholm, Denmark
| | - Mary T Fletcher
- Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland, Health, and Food Science Precinct, 39 Kessels Road, Coopers Plains, QLD, 4108, Australia
| | - Peter O'Connor
- Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, M13 9PL, UK
| | - Richard H W Bradshaw
- Department of Geography and Planning, School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, L69 7ZT, UK
| | | | - James Mason
- School of Biochemistry and Immunology, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
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Gil da Costa RM, Neto T, Estêvão D, Moutinho M, Félix A, Medeiros R, Lopes C, Bastos MMSM, Oliveira PA. Ptaquiloside from bracken (Pteridium spp.) promotes oral carcinogenesis initiated by HPV16 in transgenic mice. Food Funct 2021; 11:3298-3305. [PMID: 32222741 DOI: 10.1039/d0fo00207k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Bracken (Pteridium spp.) is a common weed that is consumed as food especially in Asia, and is suspected of promoting carcinogenesis induced by papillomaviruses in the digestive and urinary systems. This is particularly worrying because the incidence of head-and-neck cancers associated with the human papillomavirus (HPV) is rapidly increasing, and HPV co-carcinogens urgently need to be identified. This study tested the hypothesis that two bracken compounds, ptaquiloside and rutin, are able to promote head-and-neck and bladder carcinogenesis in HPV16-transgenic mice. Expression of HPV16 E6 and E7 in oral and bladder tissues was confirmed using quantitative real-time PCR. Mice were exposed orally to ptaquiloside (0.5 mg per animal per week for 10 weeks from 20 weeks-old) or rutin (413 mg kg-1 day-1 for 24 weeks from 6 weeks-old), sacrificed at 30 weeks-old and studied histologically. HPV16 E6 and E7 expression was higher in oral mucosa compared with the bladder (p 0.001). Importantly, ptaquiloside, but not rutin, increased the incidence of oral squamous cell carcinomas (p = 1.2 × 10-8) in HPV16-transgenic mice. Also, cancers of unexposed transgenic mice were restricted to the tongue base, while ptaquiloside-exposed mice showed multifocal lesions throughout the oral cavity. Wild-type controls showed no oral lesions. No bladder lesions were observed in any treated or untreated group. These results indicate that ptaquiloside from bracken is able to promote oral carcinogenesis initiated by HPV16. Rutin did not show any carcinogenic effects in this model. The absence of bladder lesions may reflect an insufficient incubation period or factors related to the specific viral oncogenes present in this model.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rui M Gil da Costa
- LEPABE, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal. and Grupo de Oncologia Molecular e Patologia Viral, CI-IPOP, Instituto Português de Oncologia do Porto, Porto, Portugal and Centro de Investigação e Tecnologia de Ciências Agroambientais e Biológicas (CITAB), Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, UTAD, Vila Real, Portugal
| | - Tiago Neto
- Grupo de Oncologia Molecular e Patologia Viral, CI-IPOP, Instituto Português de Oncologia do Porto, Porto, Portugal and ICBAS, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Diogo Estêvão
- Grupo de Oncologia Molecular e Patologia Viral, CI-IPOP, Instituto Português de Oncologia do Porto, Porto, Portugal and Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Magda Moutinho
- Centro de Investigação e Tecnologia de Ciências Agroambientais e Biológicas (CITAB), Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, UTAD, Vila Real, Portugal
| | - Ana Félix
- Nova Medical School, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal and Serviço de Anatomia Patológica, Instituto Português de Oncologia de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Rui Medeiros
- Grupo de Oncologia Molecular e Patologia Viral, CI-IPOP, Instituto Português de Oncologia do Porto, Porto, Portugal and Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal and Serviço de Virologia, Instituto Português de Oncologia do Porto, Porto, Portugal and Liga Portuguesa Contra o Cancro-Núcleo Regional do Norte, Porto, Portugal and CEBIMED, Faculdade de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Fernando Pessoa, Porto, Portugal
| | | | | | - Paula A Oliveira
- Centro de Investigação e Tecnologia de Ciências Agroambientais e Biológicas (CITAB), Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, UTAD, Vila Real, Portugal and Departamento de Ciências Veterinárias, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, UTAD, Vila Real, Portugal
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Gil da Costa RM, Bastos MMSM, Oliveira PA, Lopes C. Bracken-associated human and animal health hazards: chemical, biological and pathological evidence. JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS 2012; 203-204:1-12. [PMID: 22226718 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2011.12.046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2011] [Revised: 12/15/2011] [Accepted: 12/16/2011] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
Bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) is a widely distributed carcinogenic fern, to whose toxins human populations are exposed through multiple routes. Animals are also affected by bracken toxins, leading to serious production losses yearly. Accordingly, several governmental reports regarding the safeguard of public health against bracken carcinogens have been recently issued. This review describes the main bioactive compounds identified in bracken and their biological effects at the molecular, cellular, pathological and populational levels, with particular emphasis on ptaquiloside, the main bracken carcinogen. Recent biopathological studies shedding further light on the genotoxicity immunotoxicity and carcinogenicity of ptaquiloside are discussed. Key steps on the long effort to understand bracken toxicology are also reviewed, along with the latest findings on new bracken toxins and human exposures routes. The presence of ptaquiloside and related terpene glycosides in milk, meat and water are of particular concern from the viewpoints of both human and animal health.
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Affiliation(s)
- R M Gil da Costa
- Abel Salazar Institute for Biomedical Sciences (ICBAS), University of Porto, Largo Prof. Abel Salazar 2, 4099-003 Porto, Portugal.
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