Excess alcohol consumption is a potential risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and is linked to accelerated aging. Drug discovery to reduce toxic cellular events of alcohol is required. Here, we investigated the effects of ethanol on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and explored if doxycycline attenuates ethanol-mediated molecular events in endothelial cells. Initially, a drug screening using a panel of 170 drugs was performed, and doxycycline was selected for further experiments. HUVECs were treated with different concentrations (300 mM and 400 mM) of ethanol with or without doxycycline (10 µg/mL). Telomere length was quantified as telomere to single-copy gene (T/S) ratio. Telomere length and the mRNA expression were quantified by qRT-PCR, and protein level was analyzed by Western blot (WB). Ethanol treatment accelerated cellular aging, and doxycycline treatment recovered telomere length. Pathway analysis showed that doxycycline inhibited mTOR and NFκ-B activation. Doxycycline restored the expression of aging-associated proteins, including lamin b1 and DNA repair proteins KU70 and KU80. Doxycycline reduced senescence and senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) in ethanol-treated HUVECs. In conclusion, we report that ethanol-induced inflammation and aging in HUVECs were ameliorated by doxycycline.
Keywords: HUVECs; NFκ-B; accelerated aging; cellular senescence; doxycycline; ethanol; inflammaging; mTOR; telomere shortening.