Monitoring of individual human exposure to aflatoxins (AF) and N-nitrosamines (NNO) by immunoassays.

Highly sensitive immunoassays have been used to quantitate aflatoxins (AF) and N-nitrosamines (NNO) in human body fluids and tissues, respectively. This approach was taken in order to quantitate environmental exposure to these agents at an individual level to facilitate the investigation of their role in the etiology of human cancer. In order to analyse AF in human urine, an immunopurification step has been developed by using AF-specific antibody bound to AH-Sepharose 4B gel in a small (4-ml gel volume) affinity column prior to enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The ELISA can be used to quantitate aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) over the range 0.01 ng/ml to 10 ng/ml and the assay system has been validated by using human urine samples spiked with AFB1 over this concentration range. In addition, 29 urine samples from the Philippines have been analysed and found to contain a range of levels from zero to 4.25 ng/ml AFB1 equivalent with a mean of 0.875 ng/ml. This compared with a mean of 0.066 ng/ml AFB1 equivalent in samples from France. Radioimmunoassay of O6-methyldeoxyguanosine (O6-medG) has been performed on human oesophageal and cardiac stomach mucosal DNA from tissue samples obtained during surgery in Linxian County, People's Republic of China, an area of high risk for both oesophageal and stomach cancer. Using the methodology described and having 1 mg of hydrolyzed DNA allows the detection of approximately 25 fmol O6medG per mg DNA.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)