Abstract

Telomere shortening is usually considered a biomarker of ageing. Harmful alcohol use promotes accelerated biological ageing and alcohol use disorders (AUDs) are associated with short telomere length (TL). This study was conducted to examine the relationship of TL to AUD and determine whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in TERC and TERT modulate this association. For this purpose, we genotyped TERC SNPs rs2293607, rs12696304, and rs16847897 and TERT SNPs rs2735940, rs2736100, and rs2736098 in 308 male patients with AUD and 255 sex-matched healthy controls and measured TL in a subset of 99 patients and 99 controls paired by age and smoking status. Our results showed that the mean TL was shorter in patients with AUD than in controls. The area under the ROC curve was 0.70 (P < 0.001). The GG genotype of TERC rs2293607 was more common among patients with AUD than among controls (9.8% vs. 5.1%; P = 0.038). No difference was found for the other SNPs. Carriers of the GG genotype of rs2293607 had shorter telomeres than did allele A carriers. In conclusion, patients with AUD had shorter telomeres. Genetic susceptibility to telomere shortening through the rs2293607 SNP is associated with a greater risk of AUD.