tumor suppressors (TS-miRNAs) and all have in common that they specifically downregulate factors involved in altering the epigenetic landscape of cells. These studies and several others (Rodríguez-Paredes and Esteller, 2011; Tsai and Baylin, 2011) demonstrate that when the epigenetic machinery goes awry, cells have increased chances to become malignant and develop cancers. Therefore, it is reasonable to speculate that cells and tissues in non-complicated alcoholics, as well as in any non-complicated group of individuals chronically subjected to environmental stress, should have implemented defense mechanisms such as overexpression of TS-miRNAs in order to avoid early development of malignances.
