Anaflatoxin B1 as the Paradigm of a New Class of Vaccines Based on “Mycotoxoids”

Mycotoxicoses are a group of important diseases caused by human and animal dietary, respiratory, and dermal exposure to mycotoxins, fungal secondary metabolites that exert toxic effects in minimum concentration. Human exposure result mainly from consumption of plant-based foods containing mycotoxins and animal-derived foods, such as milk, meat and eggs, containing mycotoxins residues and metabolites (carry over). Aflatoxins (AF) are among the most relevant mycotoxins of medical interest due to their high toxic, carcinogenic and immunosuppressive properties for humans and animals. AFs are the most intensively studied mycotoxins in dairy industry as the excretion of AFM1 in milk is a relevant public health concern. Other than prevention of mycotoxin exposure, there are currently no known prophylactic measures for mycotoxicoses and no therapeutic treatments are available. Thus, the production of a vaccine able to induce specific neutralizing antibodies would be of great social, scientific and economic interests. Mycotoxins are non proteinaceous, low molecular weight haptens. Their use as conjugate immunogens should be carefully evaluated owing to the toxic properties of the molecule that might be released. Potential vaccine candidates could be protein conjugates of “mycotoxoids”, chemically detoxified forms of mycotoxins still maintaining the ability to induce antibodies reactive with the parent molecule. The present review gives an overview of overall aspects of immunization against mycotoxins, with emphasis on Anaflatoxin B1 as a paradigm of “mycotoxoid” which has been used in immunization protocols to prevent AFB1 carry over as AFM1 in milk.