Author(s)

Yunfeng Yi¹, Junxia Lei^2,3, Ganggang Shi⁴, Songlin Chen^1,3, Yanmei Zhang^3,4, Zaifa Hong^3,5, Zhimin He⁵, Shuping Zhong^3,4,5*

¹Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Xiamen University Affiliated Southeast Hospital, Xiamen, China.
²School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China.
³Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA.
⁴Department of Pharmacology, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, China.
⁵Cancer Hospital and Institute of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.

Alcohol consumption is a major health issue and associated with human cancers, such as liver and breast cancers. Alcohol was classed as carcinogen to human by IARC. We have performed in vivo and in vitro studies which demonstrate that diluted ethanol promotes cell proliferation and transformation and tumor formation. Consumption of liquor spirits (white wines) is a popular behavior. However, it is unclear whether liquor spirits affect cellular phenotypes of human cancers. At present study, we used diluted ethanol and liquor spirits (Sample #1 and Sample #2) to determine the changes in RNA polymerase III-dependent gene (Pol III gene) transcription, cell growth and colony formation in the different human cancer lines. The results indicate that low concentration of ethanol increases RNA Pol III gene transcription and rate of cell growth. However, both liquor spirits (Sample #1 and Sample #2) inhibit the activity of RNA Pol III genes and repress cell proliferation of the cancer lines, compared to diluted ethanol. The liquor spirits reduce the rate of colony formation of human breast cancer cells and esophageal carcinoma cells. The inhibitions of the liquor spirits to RNA Pol III genes, cell growth and colony formation are in a dose-dependent manner. These new findings suggest that the liquor spirits contain some active components to repress Pol III gene transcription and cell growth caused by ethanol in different human cancer cells.

Ethanol, Liquor Spirits, Cancer Cells, Pol III Genes, Cell Growth, Colony Formation

Yi, Y. , Lei, J. , Shi, G. , Chen, S. , Zhang, Y. , Hong, Z. , He, Z. and Zhong, S. (2018) The Effects of Liquor Spirits on RNA Pol III Genes and Cell Growth of Human Cancer Lines. Food and Nutrition Sciences, 9, 208-220. doi: 10.4236/fns.2018.93016.