RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Telomere length in patients with alcohol-associated liver disease: a brief report
JF Journal of Investigative Medicine
JO J Investig Med
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP 1438
OP 1441
DO 10.1136/jim-2021-002213
VO 70
IS 6
A1 Nazmul Huda
A1 Praveen Kusumanchi
A1 Kristina Perez
A1 Yanchao Jiang
A1 Nicholas J Skill
A1 Zhaoli Sun
A1 Jing Ma
A1 Zhihong Yang
A1 Suthat Liangpunsakul
YR 2022
UL http://hw-f5-jim.highwire.org/content/70/6/1438.abstract
AB The intact telomere structure is essential for the prevention of the chromosome end-to-end fusions and maintaining genomic integrity. The maintenance of telomere length is critical for cellular homeostasis. The shortening of telomeres has been reported in patients with chronic liver diseases. The telomere length has not been systemically studied in patients with alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) at different stages, such as alcoholic hepatitis and alcoholic cirrhosis. In this brief report, we observed evidence of telomere shortening without changes in the telomerase activity in the liver of patients with alcoholic hepatitis and alcoholic cirrhosis when compared with controls. The alterations in the genes associated with telomere binding proteins were only observed in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis. Future studies are required to determine the mechanism of how alcohol affects the length of the telomere and if the shortening impacts the disease progression in ALD.