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ARTICLE
In silico assessment of human health risks caused by cyanotoxins from cyanobacteria
JIA-FONG HONG1, BAGHDAD OUDDANE2, JIANG-SHIOU HWANG3,4,5, HANS-UWE DAHMS1,6,7,*
1 Department of Biomedical Science and Environmental Biology, College of Life Science, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, 807, Taiwan
2 Univ. Lille, Laboratoire LASIRE, UMR CNRS 8516, Equipe Physico-Chimie de l’Environnement, Lille, F-59000, France
3 Institute of Marine Biology, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, 202, Taiwan
4 Center of Excellence for the Oceans, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, 202, Taiwan
5 Center of Excellence for Ocean Engineering, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, 202, Taiwan
6 Research Center for Environmental Medicine, KMU-Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, 807, Taiwan
7 Department of Marine Biotechnology and Resources, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, 804, Taiwan
* Address correspondence to: Hans-Uwe Dahms,
(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Biomonitoring of Toxic Effects Using OMICs Markers)
BIOCELL 2021, 45(1), 65-77. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2021.014154
Received 03 September 2020; Accepted 12 October 2020; Issue published 26 January 2021
Abstract
Harmful algal blooms (HABs) that are formed by cyanobacteria have become a serious issue worldwide in
recent years. Cyanobacteria can release a type of secondary metabolites called cyanotoxins into aquatic systems which
may indirectly or directly provide health risks to the environment and humans. Cyanotoxins provide some of the
most powerful natural poisons including potent neurotoxins, hepatotoxins, cytotoxins, and endotoxins that may result
in environmental health risks, and long-term morbidity and mortality to animals and humans. In this research, we
used the chemcomputational tool Molinspiration for molecular property predictions, Pred-hERG 4.2 web software for
cardiac toxicity prediction, and Pred-Skin 2.0 web software for predicting skin sensitization. We are predicting some
toxicological aspects of cyanobacteria here using chemcomputational tools with the hypothesis that cyanotoxins are
providing a risk to human health. We are using the tool Pred-hERG 4.2 to predict hERG channel blocking potential
and the Pred-skin tool to predict skin sensitization due to cyanotoxins. The potential of anatoxin, ambigol, the
microcystin group, and lyngbyatoxin A, lyngbyatoxin B, nodularin-R, and saxitoxin were predicted to cause skin
sensitization in the final results (consensus model). Anatoxin-a and lyngbyatoxin were predicted to allow GI
absorption and blood–brain barrier penetration. Among the 20 predicted cyanotoxins only aeruginosin 103-A,
ambigol A, and ambigol were predicted by Pred-hERG 4.2 according to the applicability domain results as potential
cardiotoxins with weak or moderate potency. Lyngbyatoxin shows activity through the GPCR ligand and protease,
kinase, and enzyme inhibitor.
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APA Style
HONG, J., OUDDANE, B., HWANG, J., DAHMS, H. (2021). <i>in silico</i> assessment of human health risks caused by cyanotoxins from cyanobacteria. BIOCELL, 45(1), 65-77. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2021.014154
Vancouver Style
HONG J, OUDDANE B, HWANG J, DAHMS H. <i>in silico</i> assessment of human health risks caused by cyanotoxins from cyanobacteria. BIOCELL . 2021;45(1):65-77 https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2021.014154
IEEE Style
J. HONG, B. OUDDANE, J. HWANG, and H. DAHMS "<i>In silico</i> assessment of human health risks caused by cyanotoxins from cyanobacteria," BIOCELL , vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 65-77. 2021. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2021.014154
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