What is the alcohol flush reaction (or syndrome)? What are its causes and treatm

Question

What is the alcohol flush reaction (or syndrome)? What are its causes and treatment? A lot of interesting research been done on this reaction to study its analytical, biochemical, medical and demographical impacts. Using your favorite database, search a literature article about this reaction/syndrome that you find interesting (does not have to be chemistry based). Attach the first page of the article to this report. Write a small paragraph (150-200 words) summarizing the important findings of that article.

Explanation / Answer

Reference: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2659709/

When people consume alcohol or alcoholic beverages it is converted to acetaldehyde bythe enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) which is further converted to acetate by the enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2). ACetaldehyde is a carcinogen which causes DNA damage whereas acetate is harmless. To people who has altered ALDH2 cannot convert actaldehyde to acetate.

Normal metabolism: Alcohol -> Acetaldehyde -> Acetate

Altered Version: Alcohol -> Acetaldehyde -> Alcohol flushing

Alteration or variation in ALDH2 is due to the mutation in the gene which encodes this enzyme. The amino acid Glutamate (Glu) present in the position 487 is replaced by Lysine (lys). The allele for Glu (ALDH2*1) encodes an activated form of ALDH2 whereas the allele for lys (ALDH2*2) encodes the inactivated form of ALDH2 enzyme.

Due to this mutation the enzyme is not expressed properly and cannot convert acetaldehyde. Hence ALDH2 deficient patients shows facial flushing when they consume alcoholic beverages. This may lead to oesphageal cancer since acetaldehyde is carcinogenic in nature.

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