The role of ethanol in oncogenesis of the upper aerodigestive tract; inhibition of DNA repair.
When cells of four lymphoblastoid lines were pulse treated with bleomycin for 10 min and reincubated in control medium or medium containing 0.5% ethanol, the frequencies of chromatid breaks steadily dropped as incubation time increased. At 5 hr after the pulse, the break/cell rate was reduced to a level slightly higher than that of the untreated cell populations. When the cells were reincubated in medium containing 2% ethanol, the chromatid breakage rates remained high throughout the 5-hr period. Apparently DNA repair processes were inhibited by 2% ethanol. However, this inhibition phenomenon could be reversed when ethanol was removed from the growth medium. The finding that ethanol inhibits DNA repair helps explain why ethyl alcohol has been regarded as a cocarcinogen in head and neck cancers.
Hsu
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TC
Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston 77030.
Furlong
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C
D004260:DNA Repair / Q000187:drug effects*; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000187:drug effects*; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced; D000431:Ethanol / Q000633:toxicity*; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced; D006801:Humans; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D000431:Ethanol