1: ScientificWorldJournal. 2003 Nov 13;3:1128-37.

The neurological significance of abnormal natural killer cell
activity in chronic toxigenic mold exposures

Anyanwu E, Campbell AW, Jones J, Ehiri JE, Akpan AI.

Neurosciences Research, Cahers Inc., Conroe, TX, USA.
ebereanyanwu@m...

Toxigenic mold activities produce metabolites that are either broad-
spectrum antibiotics or mycotoxins that are cytotoxic. Indoor
environmental exposure to these toxigenic molds leads to adverse
health conditions with the main outcome measure of frequent
neuroimmunologic and behavioral consequences. One of the immune
system disorders found in patients presenting with toxigenic mold
exposure is an abnormal natural killer cell activity. This paper
presents an overview of the neurological significance of abnormal
natural killer cell (NKC) activity in chronic toxigenic mold
exposure. A comprehensive review of the literature was carried out
to evaluate and assess the conditions under which the immune system
could be dysfunctionally interfered with leading to abnormal NKC
activity and the involvement of mycotoxins in these processes. The
functions, mechanism, the factors that influence NKC activities, and
the roles of mycotoxins in NKCs were cited wherever necessary. The
major presentations are headache, general debilitating pains, nose
bleeding, fevers with body temperatures up to 40 degrees C (104
degrees F), cough, memory loss, depression, mood swings, sleep
disturbances, anxiety, chronic fatigue, vertigo/dizziness, and in
some cases, seizures. Although sleep is commonly considered a
restorative process that is important for the proper functioning of
the immune system, it could be disturbed by mycotoxins. Most likely,
mycotoxins exert some rigorous effects on the circadian rhythmic
processes resulting in sleep deprivation to which an acute and
transient increase in NKC activity is observed. Depression,
psychological stress, tissue injuries, malignancies, carcinogenesis,
chronic fatigue syndrome, and experimental allergic
encephalomyelitis could be induced at very low physiological
concentrations by mycotoxin-induced NKC activity. In the light of
this review, it is concluded that chronic exposures to toxigenic
mold could lead to abnormal NKC activity with a wide range of
neurological consequences, some of which were headache, general
debilitating pains, fever, cough, memory loss, depression, mood
swings, sleep disturbances, anxiety, chronic fatigue, and seizures.