THE REVIEW OF STUDIES ON ASSOCIATION OF ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION WITH TELOMERE LENGTH IN HUMANS

Telomeres are complex nucleoprotein structures with specific proteins of noncoding terminal regions of linear chromosomes of eukaryotic cells. Telomere DNA consists of a large number of short sequence repeats (TTAGGG in vertebrates). Telomeres protect chromosomes from their fusion and degradation, limit the proliferative potential of the cell, participate in the segregation of chromosomes during cell division, etc. Reduction of telomeres length is an important factor with significant impact on cell viability and function, aging, and leads to the development of various diseases including cancer. Alcohol abuse has a significant impact on a person's health. Ethanol consumption by a human may affect the length of chromosome telomeres on the cellular level. Current review presents an analysis of clinical and epidemiological studies on the effect of alcohol consumption on telomere length. Methods for telomere length determination and their applicability for clinical use with impact on research results are discussed. An association of alcohol consumption with shortening of telomeres has been shown in some studies with certain populations, including individuals with alcohol abuse, alcohol dependence and some genetic variants of alcohol metabolism enzymes but not in the general population. The analysis of reviewed studies allows to conclude that they are ambiguous and that there is further need to study the effect of alcohol on telomere length using modern methods of it determination.