Prostate and breast cancer: Their relationship with alcohol intake

In addition to smoking and diet, alcohol intake is one of the most important risk factors for human cancers. Body areas associated with this risk include the upper aerodigestive tract, liver, colon, and rectum, and with a lesser degree of certainty, the stomach, prostate, and lungs. Here we discuss the mechanism by which alcohol consumption advances cancer induction at the initiation and promotion stages of breast and prostate cancers. Special emphasis is placed on the need for ethanol biotransformation into mutagenic/carcinogenic acetaldehyde, and the stimulation of a free radical generation process of the alcohol itself and the production of some reactive oxygen species (ROS). In recent studies in our laboratory we have found new metabolic pathways for the in situ production of reactive metabolites of ethanol in the prostate and breasts of rats and the occurrence of associated cellular damage. We were able to visualize the stimulatory effect of alcohol consumption on the activation of other environmental carcinogens, its ability to hinder the repair process of damaged DNA, its effects on the immune system and on the progression of the carcinogenic process. We also suggest some preventive measures that could be applied apart from avoiding the consumption of alcoholic beverages, which contain protective substances that are components of the usual daily diet. Copyrigth