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Evidence of genotoxicity in lymphocytes of non-smoking alcoholics

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Abstract

Alcohol abuse is a significant public health issue. Epidemiological studies conducted on different populations consistently showed that consumption of alcoholic beverages is associated with cytogenetic damages and higher risk for several types of cancer. However, the interpretation of many cytogenetic studies resulted complicated because some confounding factors, such as smoking habit, are not always taken into account. In the present study, the frequency of sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs), chromosome aberrations (CAs) and micronuclei (MNs) in cultured human lymphocytes was assessed on 15 alcoholic and 15 non-alcoholic control male subjects. Moreover, considering the implication of the Glutathione S-transferases gene polymorphisms in the genetic susceptibility to alcoholic liver diseases, we considered an important issue to evaluate the relationship between these gene polymorphisms and the cytogenetic damage. In our sample we exclusively considered individuals that did not smoke nor consume drugs for a period of at least 2 years prior to the analysis. Statistically significant differences were found between alcoholics and controls in the frequency of SCEs/cell (P = 0.001), RI value (P = 0.001), CAs (P = 0.002) and CAB (P = 0.002). Vice versa, no significant differences were found between alcoholics and controls in terms of MNs frequency and CBPI value. In both samples, no statistically significant association was found between the analysed GSTs gene polymorphisms and the frequencies of MNs, SCEs and CAs. Finally, among alcoholics we found a positive correlation between SCEs and CAs frequencies and the duration of alcohol abuse.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Grants from the Italian Ministry of University and Scientific Research. We are grateful to Natascha Rogge for her valuable help and criticism and to all volunteers who participated in this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Via Accademia Albertina n. 13, 10123, Turin, Italy

    Alfredo Santovito, Piero Cervella & Massimiliano Delpero

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  1. Alfredo Santovito
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  2. Piero Cervella
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  3. Massimiliano Delpero
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Correspondence to Alfredo Santovito.

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Santovito, A., Cervella, P. & Delpero, M. Evidence of genotoxicity in lymphocytes of non-smoking alcoholics. Mol Biol Rep 42, 53–59 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-014-3739-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-014-3739-8

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