A gene, FAF2, could limit the risk of developing alcoholic cirrhosis. Genetic factors would therefore be one of the explanations – alongside excessive alcohol consumption – of the contraction of this disease.
- Study shows heavy alcohol drinkers never develop alcoholic cirrhosis
- A genetic predisposition could protect them from this disease
- The presence of this gene should not encourage excessive alcohol consumption!
FAF2 for Fas Associated Factor Family Member 2… This is the name of a gene that could revolutionize targeted therapy for certain cirrhosis of the liver. Scientists have just discovered that the FAF2 gene may reduce the risk of developing alcoholic cirrhosis. This is due to the consumption of an excessive amount of alcohol for several years. In their work (https://aasldpubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/hep.31535), they therefore explain that patients who have this gene, even if they drink a lot and for a long time, would have a genetic predisposition that would protect them more from this pathology.
Four genes limit the risk of developing alcoholic cirrhosis
The study is unprecedented. It is one of the most carried out on the disease of alcoholic cirrhosis. To arrive at their results, the researchers analyzed the genome, that is to say the repertoire of genes of a living organism, the DNA of more than 1,700 patients from different countries, including several in Europe, the United States or Australia. They were divided into two groups: heavy drinkers with alcoholic cirrhosis and those who drank heavily but had never had a history of liver injury or alcohol-induced liver disease.
Scientists already knew of three other genes associated with a reduced risk of developing alcoholic cirrhosis. FAF2 is therefore the fourth. All act in the same way: they regulate lipid droplets. Over time and excessive alcohol consumption, these lipid droplets accumulate in the liver. This clumping can cause inflammation and liver complications such as cirrhosis. According to the authors, the protective action of the FAF2 gene – and of the three others – is due to its impact on these lipid droplets. By regulating them, the genes limit the risk of developing alcoholic cirrhosis, despite the alcohol ingested. It remains to know the exact role of each of these genes, as well as the effects they have on each other.
Limit alcohol consumption to prevent alcoholic cirrhosis
There would therefore be a genetic predisposition to alcoholic cirrhosis, linked to the influence on the lipid droplets. “This seems to be one of the biological reasons why some people get liver disease and why some people don’t,“explains Tae-Hwi Schwantes-An, assistant professor of research in medical and molecular genetics and lead author of the study. Eventually, the researchers hope to be able to precisely identify the genetic factor in question. Once found, they will be able to be used to prevent alcoholic cirrhosis in certain patients and, above all, to develop targeted therapies.
However, this should not encourage the consumption of alcohol. Not everything is genetic, and excessive absorption multiplies the risk of developing alcoholic cirrhosis. According to the recommendations of Public Health France (https://www.santepubliquefrance.fr/presse/2019/alcool-et-sante-ameliorer-les-connaissances-et-reduire-les-risques), a maximum of two glasses of alcohol per day should be consumed, not every day, and a maximum of 10 glasses per week.
Advice that is too little followed… Nearly a quarter of French people aged 18 to 75 exceed at least one of these three benchmarks, according to the Barometer of Public Health France 2017. “There is a real public health problem related to alcohol consumption and people starting to drink at a younger age,concludes Suthat Liangpunsakul, professor of medicine, medical research scientist for the Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, and one of the principal investigators of the study.
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