Although there are no data in humans to support a toxic link yet, “there’s always been a speculation that it is possible,” says Jorge Bezerra, a biliary atresia expert at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. “We do know that systematic analyses of tissues and serum of humans have been helpful in identifying viruses and genetic associations, but there is still a substantial percentage of the overall cohort that cannot be assigned to either of those two agents.”
“I think this is such a ripe area for investigation to see if there’s really any relationship of this toxin to human biliary atresia,” says Ronald Sokol, chief of pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology, and nutrition at Children’s Hospital Colorado and the University of Colorado. “If there is, there may be some new potential for an intervention to prevent biliary atresia.” So far, no one has found a link. “What needs to be done is to look at infants themselves and their mothers to find any evidence of a toxin,” Sokol says.
Wells says the next step for her group is to isolate enough of the compound so it can be tested in mice. This summer, Windsor brought 10 pounds of pigweed to the U.S. “I’ve got another 10 pounds sitting in my freezer at home. So we have plenty of toxin.” He says he’s excited to see what his colleagues discover on the human side of things. Cracking the lamb mystery was extremely satisfying, Windsor adds. “We always knew there was an important discovery to be made like this. This is one of those ones I was hoping in my lifetime we would solve.”