**9. Conclusions**

In this review, we summarize the distribution of fungi that produce aflatoxins, general properties of aflatoxins, metabolism of AFB1 as well as the immunomodulatory effects and the mechanisms of carcinogenesis of AFB1. All these information or data are already reported in literature.

We report from our previous study that AFB1 inhibit the type I interferon signaling response pathway by suppressing transcript expression levels of JAK1, STAT1 and OAS3. We also report that AFB1 suppresses the translation of STAT1 mRNA into protein. STAT1 which is a key component of the JAK–STAT-ISRE arm of the type I interferon signaling response pathway is known to exhibit its tumor suppressing function by inducing apoptosis and inhibiting angiogenesis. Therefore, by demonstrating in our study that AFB1 inhibit translation of STAT1 mRNA into protein suggest that AFB1 can suppress the immune system of individuals exposed to it thereby predisposing them to cancers and other diseases.
