Alcohol damages DNA

Photo source: sunnyskyz.com

Alcohol is associated with various types of cancer: including breast, liver and colon cancer. However, it was unclear how alcohol causes these different types of cancer. Until now. English researchers show that alcohol permanently damages DNA in stem cells. "Some cancers develop due to DNA damage in stem cells," says researcher Ketan Patel. "Although some of the damage is caused by chance, our results suggest that drinking alcohol increases the likelihood of these damage." Petal and colleagues gave mice diluted alcohol (also called ethanol). Then they looked at what that did with the genetic material of the mice. And so they discovered that acetaldehyde - a substance that develops when the body breaks down ethanol - causes DNA damage. This mainly concerns DNA in blood stem cells: that is damaged by acetaldehyde or broken into pieces. It leads to permanently altered DNA sequences in these cells.

The research also sheds new light on how the body tries to protect itself against such DNA damage. The first line of defense consists of enzymes that break down the acetaldehyde into acetate, which can use our cells as a source of energy. But: there are millions of people worldwide - especially in Southeast Asia - who do not own these enzymes or have 'wrong' versions of them. When these people drink alcohol, the acetaldehyde accumulates. Experiments with mice lacking these enzymes suggest that they consume up to four times more DNA damage when consuming alcohol than alcohol drinkers who do possess these enzymes. The body still has a second line of defense. It consists of systems that can repair DNA. But those systems do not always work. And some people carry mutations that lead to the repairs being inadequate.

"Our study emphasizes that not being able to process alcohol properly can lead to a higher risk of alcohol-induced DNA damage and therefore certain forms of cancer. But it is important to remember that the systems that clean up alcohol and cause DNA damage are not perfect and alcohol can still cause cancer in different ways, even in people whose defensive mechanisms are intact. "


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