An international team of scientists has found that exposure to aristolochic acid, which is widely used in Chinese herbal medicine, increases the incidence of renal cancer in humans, said researchers from McGill University and the Genome Quebec Innovation Center in Montreal.

The substance, found in the Aristolochia genus of plants, has also been suspected of producing Balkan endemic nephropathy, a kidney disease that affects individuals along the Danube River in Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Herzegovina, Romania and Serbia.

Like Us on Facebook

The European birthwort, Aristolochia clematitis, is a common plant found throughout the Balkans.

The study homed in on clear-cell renal cell carcinoma -- the most ordinary form of kidney cancer. Of all adult cancers, the one affecting the kidneys accounts for 2.4 percent of all cases in the world, with over 140,000 deaths yearly. The incidence of renal cancer has increased significantly, especially in areas in Central Europe.

Whole-genome sequencing was performed by the scientists on DNA isolated from the tumor tissue and blood samples. RNA sequencing was performed on tumor and normal tissue samples obtained from 94 total kidney-cancer patients from the United Kingdom, Russia, Romania and the Czech Republic.

"The most striking observation was the high frequency of a specific type of mutation pattern found in the Romanian patients," said Yasser Riazalhosseini, an assistant professor of genetics at McGill.

"The specific sequence context surrounding these mutations and their predominance on the non-transcribed strand of DNA enabled us to hypothesize that the mutation is due to exposure to aristolochic acid during the patient's lifetime."

Patients suffering from cancer in the urinary tract also have the same mutation pattern linked to Balkan endemic nephropathy.

The illness is thought by a number of researchers to be caused by the consumption of flour made from the wheat contaminated with the seed of Aristolochia Clematitis.

"While the study included only 14 patients from Romania, the specific mutation pattern was found in 12 of them, said Professor Mark Lathrop, scientific director of the McGill University and Genome Quebec Innovation Centre, who led the study.

"As a result, we will analyze samples from more patients from Romania and elsewhere in the Balkan region, in follow-up research that is now underway to assess the extent of exposure."

TagsAristolochia clematitis, Aristolochic acid, Balkans, Balkan, Bulgaria, Croatia, Herzegovina, Romania, Serbia, European birthwort, Denube River, Bosnia, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Russia, Kidney cancer, Renal cancer, Clear-cell renal cell carcinoma, Europe