Marie Curie Actions: Inspiring Researchers - Imdea

The invisible enemyOchratoxin A (OTA), penicillic acid (PA) and fumonisin B1(FB1) are just three of the fi ends Professor Stoycho Stoev ofTrakia University, Bulgaria, is pursuing. These are so-calledmycotoxins – toxic by-products of the metabolism of fungisuch as moulds or yeasts. OTA is one of the most commonmycotoxins in the world and will contaminate foods like grain,coffee or grapes if they are not stored properly. It is a knownfact that OTA can cause kidney damage and disease in humansas well as pigs and chickens: kidneys will grow abnormallyand subsequently diminish, and may also develop a motleysurface, fi brosis, cysts or other lesions. In such an importantorgan, this can prove fatal.Both Scandinavia and the Balkans have been hit by severeoutbreaks of OTA-related nephropathies in the past. Butwhile the concentration of OTA found in food and feed inScandinavia was enough to explain the outbreaks there,this was not so in the Balkans, more specifi cally in ProfessorStoev’s native Bulgaria. There were more people and animalsaffected there, but the concentration of OTA was lower. Thisled the experienced veterinary pathologist to believe thatseveral toxins might be at play here. His suspicion: OTA, PAand FB1 interact and create a stronger effect together thanthey would on their own.On the trail of the culpritLike a detective visiting the scenes of similar crimes, ProfessorStoev is sure that comparing ‘the same kind of pathology underdifferent geographical, environmental and agricultural conditionsgives us some knowledge about a possible polyaetiological[having multiple causes] nature of this nephropathy’. Hence,he is studying tissue samples from Bulgaria, on the one hand,and from South Africa on the other, hoping to shed light onthe complex triggers of such kidney diseases.His tests have already substantiated one of his suspicions: OTAand PA have a strong synergistic effect and do create moredamage together. In addition, he and his colleagues from theUniversity of Johannesburg’s Food, Environment and HealthResearch Group (FEHRG) have discovered a new mycotoxin thatContrast X-ray of kidneys and aorta265