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Finding May Explain Alcohol/Cancer Link
Brief Description:
A new study may help researchers better understand the link between alcohol
and cancer.
Transcript:
Schmalfeldt: Drinking alcohol has been linked to an
increased risk of upper gastrointestinal cancer, as well as other types
of cancers. But researchers don't yet understand the basic molecular
reasons why. Now, a new study by scientists from the National Institute
on Alcohol Abuse and Alchoholism and the National Institute of Standards
and Technology may shine some light on the link between alcohol and cancer.
Doctor P.J. Brooks, one of the co-leaders of the research team, said
the search for a biochemical link is now focused on a chemical called "acetaldehyde" which
forms when the body metabolizes alcohol and its reaction with small molecules
called "polyamines" that are naturally present in our cells.
Brooks: What we found is that the acetaldehyde can
react with this other chemical that is present in our cells, and that
causes kind of a chain reaction that ultimately results in a particularly
dangerous type of DNA damage. We did these studies using concentrations
of acetaldehyde that are within the range that might actually occur,
particularly in the mouth, when people drink alcohol. So we believe then
that these studies are biologically relevant, although it is important
to point out that these are "test tube" studies still. So we
still have to verify this work in living cells.
Schmalfeldt: Doctor Brooks said that researchers have
long suspected acetaldehyde's role in the link between alcohol and cancer.
He said the study gives scientists important new clues about its involvement.
From the National Institutes of Health, I'm Bill Schmalfeldt in Bethesda,
Maryland.
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| Date: 08/08/2005 |
Reporter:
Bill Schmalfeldt |
Sound
Bite:
Dr. P. J. Brooks |
Topic:
Alcohol, Cancer |
| Institute(s): NIAAA |
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