Background/aims: Although a primary carcinogenic role of alcohol is not proven, alcohol abuse is associated with an increased risk of cancer of the upper airways, esophagus and liver.
Methodology: Chromosome aberrations and the presence of micronuclei that reflect two types of genetic damage were analyzed in peripheral blood lymphocytes from 11 alcoholic patients who were heavy smokers and in a fair state of general nutrition and 9 subjects who had abstained from alcohol for at least a year. Ten heavy smokers were studied as healthy controls.
Results: Chromosome aberrations and micronuclei in alcoholics showed significantly elevated frequencies compared to the control groups, while in alcohol abstainers the values of all two parameters were similar to the values of the control subjects.
Conclusions: These results show that long-term alcohol intake could induce genetic alterations in synergy with tobacco smoke. Interestingly, this damaging action is reversed by abstinence. Our results call for a further effort to find an eventual diagnostic role for these early genetic damage markers.