30th Interdisciplinary Toxicological Conference (TOXCON 2025)

24-26 September, 2025, Stará Lesná, Slovakia

 

The 30th annual TOXCON conference was hosted at the Congress Center ACADEMIA in Stará Lesná, High Tatras, bringing together leading experts in toxicology and related biomedical fields. This traditional scientific meeting gathered participants from across Europe, fostering interdisciplinary exchange and collaboration.

Results from the CyanoMeta project were presented by Mgr. Polina Shpet from Masaryk University, Czech Republic, as a poster presentation entitled: GJIC assessment indicates novel toxic and carcinogenic threats from the invasive water bloom cyanobacterium Raphidiopsis raciborskii. The study, conducted in collaboration with researchers from RECETOX, Masaryk University, Jagiellonian University in Kraków, the University of Novi Sad, and the Czech Academy of Sciences, explored the toxic potential of cyanobacterial metabolites using untargeted metabolomics and in vitro assays.           The research revealed that toxic effects were not linked to cylindrospermopsin production, as previously assumed, but rather to unknown metabolites. Notably, the Polish strain UAM/DH-PnRr, which does not produce cylindrospermopsin, caused the strongest inhibition of gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) and significant cytotoxicity in rat liver cells. Since GJIC disruption is a recognized hallmark of cancer promotion, these findings highlight potential pro-tumorigenic risks associated with R. raciborskii. This work underscores the importance of GJIC assays as a valuable tool in toxicological screening and points to the need for further research into yet unidentified metabolites driving these toxic effects. The results contribute to a growing body of evidence on the invasive cyanobacterium R. raciborskii, emphasizing its ecological and toxicological significance across geographic regions.