Shortened telomeres in individuals with abuse in alcohol consumption

Abstract

Alcohol abuse leads to earlier onset of aging-related diseases, including cancer at multiple sites. Shorter telomere length (TL) in peripheral blood leucocytes (PBLs), a marker of biological aging, has been associated with alcohol-related cancer risks. Whether alcohol abusers exhibit accelerated biological aging, as reflected in PBL-TL, has never been examined. To investigated the effect of alcohol abuse on PBL-TL and its interaction with alcohol metabolic genotypes, we examined 200 drunk-driving traffic offenders diagnosed as alcohol abusers as per the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders [DSM-IV-TR] and enrolled in a probation program, and 257 social drinkers (controls). We assessed alcohol intake using selfreported drink-units/day and conventional alcohol abuse biomarkers (serum c-glutamyltrasferase [GGT] and mean corpuscular volume of erythrocytes [MCV]). We used multivariable models to compute TL geometric means (GM) adjusted for age, smoking, BMI, diet, job at elevated risk of accident, genotoxic exposures. TL was nearly halved in alcohol abusers compared with controls (GMs 0.42 vs. 0.87 relative T/S ratio; p < 0.0001) and decreased in relation with increasing drink-units/day (ptrend 5 0.003). Individuals drinking >4 drink-units/day had substantially shorter TL than those drinking 4 drink-units/day (GMs 0.48 vs. 0.61 T/S, p 5 0.002). Carriers of the common ADH1B*1/*1 (rs1229984) genotype were more likely to be abusers (p 5 0.008), reported higher drink-units/day (p 5 0.0003), and exhibited shorter TL (p < 0.0001). The rs698 ADH1C and rs671 ALDH2 polymorphisms were not associated with TL. The decrease in PBL-TL modulated by the alcohol metabolic genotype ADH1B*1/*1 may represent a novel mechanism potentially related to alcohol carcinogenesis in alcohol abusers.

The Influence of Alcohol Consumption, Cigarette Smoking, and Physical Activity on Leukocyte Telomere Length

“…Our findings differed from the results of two other studies with a primary focus on the relationship between alcohol and rLTL. Contrary to our observations, both reported an association between alcohol intake and rLTL: one in a crosssectional analysis in a group of males with alcohol abuse (45) and the other in longitudinal analysis in a group of older businessmen (46). The range of alcohol consumption levels reported by these studies was well above that seen in our population of healthy volunteers.…”

Telómeros Y Calidad De La Dieta: Una Revision Sistematica

“…La ingesta de carnes rojas, carnes procesadas y bebidas azucaradas se relaciona con telómeros más cortos, pero se requieren más estudios para aprobar estos resultados (141,151,165). Únicamente en un estudio, el abuso en el consumo de alcohol se asoció con telómeros acortados que sugirieron un envejecimiento prematuro a nivel celular (159). En otro artículo, se sugiere, además, que existe una relación inversa gradual y altamente significativa entre el consumo de alcohol y LTL en edades más avanzadas (162).…”

Exploring the link between depression and accelerated cellular aging: telomeres hold the key

“…Previous studies have noted that alcohol abusers had significantly shorter telomere length compared with controls. 95,96 However, other studies, that examined the relationship between alcohol intake and telomere length have found no 25,97 or marginal associations. 98 In a recent longitudinal sample of 4,576 general population individuals, alcohol intake was not associated with telomere length either cross-sectionally or longitudinally.…”