ArticleAlcoholism, clinical and experimental research2019
Biomarker and Genomic Risk Factors for Liver Function Test Abnormality in Hazardous Drinkers.
Article in Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Serum iron, Magnesium, Copper, and Manganese Levels in Alcoholism: A Systematic Review.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Pooled it
- Forward and reverse genomic screens enhance the understanding of phenotypic variation in a large Chinese rhesus macaque cohort.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Multi-cohort genome-wide association analyses reveal loci underlying circulating liver enzyme levels in African-ancestry populations.Research square · 2025Article
- Association between lifestyle factors and liver function parameters in the middle-aged and older population.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Sex difference in the association between blood alcohol concentration and serum ferritin.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- GWAS of serum ALT and AST reveals an association of SLC30A10 Thr95Ile with hypermanganesemia symptoms.Nature communications · 2021Article
- Long tracks of homozygosity predict the severity of alcohol use disorders in an American Indian population.Molecular psychiatry · 2021Article
- HSD17B13: A Potential Therapeutic Target for NAFLD.Frontiers in molecular biosciences · 2021Review
- Insights into the aetiology of snoring from observational and genetic investigations in the UK Biobank.Nature communications · 2020Article
- Translational Metabolomics: Current Challenges and Future Opportunities.Metabolites · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAlcohol dependence and long-term excessive alcohol use may cause liver damage, but only some patients develop cirrhosis. Similarly, high alcohol intake without evident liver disease often but not always produces abnormal enzymatic liver function tests (LFTs), particularly gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT). We postulate that the factors predisposing to cirrhosis in alcoholics and to liver enzyme abnormality in drinkers are similar, and that biochemical LFTs could therefore be useful as markers of risk of alcoholic liver disease in excessive drinkers.
methodsData from participants in twin and twin-family studies on alcohol use and dependence were used to identify 1,003 people who had reported excessive alcohol intake (28 drinks or more per week). A total of 962 of these provided blood for biochemical tests at the same time. Body mass index (BMI) and biomarkers of metabolic syndrome, inflammation, and iron stores were used in logistic regression with abnormality in serum GGT, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), or aspartate aminotransferase (AST) as outcomes. We conducted genome-wide association analyses for GGT, ALT, and AST separately in the group reporting excessive alcohol intake (N = 951) and a low-intake group reporting 14 drinks or fewer per week (N = 8,716), and compared results.
resultsAbnormal GGT and ALT among excessive drinkers were associated with higher BMI, triglycerides, insulin, uric acid, C-reactive protein, ferritin, and transferrin saturation; and with lower high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol. Abnormal AST was associated with triglycerides, ferritin, and transferrin saturation. ALT was significantly associated with variants at reported genetic loci for alcoholic liver disease (PNPLA3, rs738409, p = 0.0076; TM6SF2, rs10401969, p = 0.0076; HSD17B13, rs10433879, p = 0.0024).
conclusionsKnown risk factors for alcoholic cirrhosis including obesity and markers of metabolic syndrome, iron overload and inflammation are associated with liver enzyme abnormality in excessive drinkers.
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