Smoking, Alcohol and Gene Mutation

[aes001]

It seems that there are limited studies regarding the affects that tobacco and alcohol use can have on our genes. Can anyone comment on the degree of damage that might be found in the buccal cells of someone who has spent 30+ years smoking and drinking? And what types of mutations would these toxins cause?

[timothyd]

I don't know what effect there would be, if any, at the genetic level. Certainly there will likely be an impact at the epigenetic level. Since epigenetics doesn't really change genes, it simply alters by increasing or decreasing the level of expression of certain genes, I would offer that the impact would more likely be at the histone level. However, from the information you provide, namely 30+ years of smoking and drinking, if that didn't start until age 20 that would make the individual over fifty, and a highly unlikely candidate for genetic or epigenetic contribution to any offspring, particularly if that were a female.

[Arete]

It seems that there are limited studies regarding the affects that tobacco and alcohol use can have on our genes.

 

I disagree.

A simple Google scholar search reveals:

Using the keywords "genetic" "tobacco" "smoking" yields approximately 200,000 hits.

Using the keywords "alcohol" "consumption" "genetic" yields approximately 650,000 hits.

 

 

here's a few pertinent papers:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/%28SICI%291097-0215%2819970317%2970:6%3C661::AID-IJC6%3E3.0.CO;2-T/abstract

http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/60/12/3155.short

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2363236/

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/%28SICI%291096-9926%28199901%2959:1%3C39::AID-TERA9%3E3.0.CO;2-7/full

[CharonY]

Well, both are linked to cancer and are known to be mutagenic. Due to the way the respective compounds are taken up and metabolized, some tissues/organs tend to be more affected than others. That said, tobacco consumption has been found to be implicated in buccal cell changes (for review: Proia et al. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2006 15(6):1061-77). I am less certain about alcohol, especially as it is converted to acetaldeyde before being genotoxic. From that I would assume that during non-excessive alcohol consumption the effect on buccal cells could be rather low..

[timothyd]

I think it goes without saying that alcohol and tobacco have a genetic impact on the user, in a broad variety of systems or organs. I'm still completely unaware of any study that shows or suggests that it has any transgenerational potential. A search of keywords really doesn't answer that.

[Arete]

A search of keywords really doesn't answer that.

 

Well, genetic mutation and germ line mutation are two distinct things. The inital post suggested there was limited research into the genetic mutations caused by alcohol and tobacco. There isn't.

 

here are some studies which address germline mutation in relation to alcohol and tobacco, including a paper entitled "Mainstream Tobacco Smoke Causes Paternal Germ-Line DNA Mutation" http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/67/11/5103.short

 

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006322312003551

http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/12134623

http://carcin.oxfordjournals.org/content/17/2/261.short

[timothyd]

Thank you. Good articles regarding tobacco, though they did not show any comparable ages. Most human children do not start smoking at shortly after birth, and may not smoke much before becoming a parent. Thus the intergenerational effect may be limited if at all.

 

The source you provided makes my case about epigenetics and alcohol. And epigenetic are at least in part erased from the germline, and further, the ones from the male generally seem to have little residual effect.

[ProfessorDoxus]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10211315 should provide some insight, I can't understand the language, but I'm sure you can.

[timothyd]

Thanks, interesting. But I'm not sure that the observed impact was either epigenetic or genetic from the verbiage in the abstract.