Shortened telomeres in individuals with abuse in alcohol consumption
Open accessAbstract
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 self-reported drink-units/day and conventional alcohol abuse biomarkers (serum γ-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 (p-trend=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=0.002). Carriers of the common ADH1B*1/*1 (rs1229984) genotype were more likely to be abusers (p=0.008), reported higher drink-units/day (p=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.
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Preliminary reports suggest that alcohol and certain types of substance abuse may be associated with altered LTL.
“Moreover, several preliminary reports suggest that alcohol and certain types of substance abuse may be associated with altered LTL (Pavanello et al., 2011; Yang et al., 2013).”
From Psychiatric disorders and leukocyte telomere length: Underlying mechanisms linking mental illness with cellular aging (2015) · cites this paper as Pavanello et al., 2011
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References 49 · Cited by 167
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- [36]Hou L Savage SA Blaser MJ Perez-Perez G Hoxha M Dioni L Pegoraro V Dong LM Zatonski W Lissowska J Chow WH Baccarelli A Telomere length in peripheral leukocyte DNA and gastric cancer risk Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009 18 3103 3109 19861514 PMC2938741
- Authors
- Pavanello, S., Hoxha, M., Dioni, L., Bertazzi, P. A., Snenghi, R., Nalesso, A., Ferrara, S. D., Montisci, M., & Baccarelli, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Padua (IT)
- University of Milan (IT)
- Harvard University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Pavanello, Sofia
- Venue
- International Journal of Cancer
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2011-04-25
- Volume
- 129
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 983-992
- ISSN
- 0020-7136 (ISSN-L)
- 1097-0215
- PMC
- PMC3125427
- OpenAlex
- W2027714436
- Cited by
- 167
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 18 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 7.20
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- International Journal of Cancer (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Padua Research Archive (University of Padova) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (ES000002., P30ES000002)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Telomeres, Telomerase, and Senescence
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pathology and Forensic Medicine › Alcohol Consumption and Health Effects
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Keywords
- alcohol abuse, telomere length, biological aging, peripheral blood leukocytes, alcohol consumption, drunk driving offenders, alcohol and cancer risk, ALDH2, ADH1C, serum gamma-glutamyltransferase, mean corpuscular volume
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Alcohol Dehydrogenase, Alcoholism, Genotype, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Polymorphism, Genetic, Case-Control Studies, Telomere, Alcohol-Induced Disorders
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