Alcohol and Cancer

Dear Colleagues,

Chronic alcohol consumption is responsible for more than 200 diseases or symptoms. One of the most severe diseases associated with chronic alcohol abuse is cancer. Epidemiologists and clinicians have known this for more than hundred years. However, in the last three decades, countless epidemiological data from cohort and case control studies have accumulated that identify alcohol as a major risk factor for various cancer sites, including the upper aerodigestive tract (oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, esophagus) the liver (mostly in the presence of cirrhosis), the colorectum, and the female breast. Especially, alcohol-mediated cancer of the large intestine and the breast are of major concern since, for the colorectum, the dosis associated with cancer risk seems to be significantly lower compared to the upper aerodigestive tract; no threshold dose exists for the breast.

Alcohol-mediated cancer increased within the last 15 years. In 2002, worldwide, a total of 3.6% of all cancers (5.2% in men and 1.7% in women) were derived from chronic alcohol consumption. In 2012, the total number of all alcohol-attributable cancer cases increased to 5.5% (7.2% in men and 3.5% in women). Responding figures for cancer deaths, attributable to alcohol, increased to 5.8%. Thus, undoubtedly, alcohol is an important cancer risk factor that can be completely avoided.

In 2007, the International Agency for Research in Cancer (IARC) published a paper in Lancet Oncology, as a result of a two-week expert panel discussion that alcoholic beverages are carcinogenic. Since then, alcohol and cancer became very important topics, and the National Institute of Alcohol and Alcohol Abuse (NIAAA), as well as the European Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism (ESBRA), increased their efforts to support research in this field over the last five years. The purpose of this Special Issue of Cancers is to summarize the present knowledge regarding alcohol and cancer epidemiology and pathophysiology. The focus, however, is on mechanisms by which alcohol exerts its carcinogenic action. This up-to-date knowledge will be presented by a number of world-class experts in the field. It is our hope that the knowledge presented here may result in specific research that may contribute to the solving of many open question in the field of alcohol and cancer.

Prof. Dr. Helmut K. Seitz
Prof. Dr. Sebastian Mueller
Guest Editors

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