Alcohol and Alcoholism Advance Access published online on August 2, 2004
Alcohol and Alcoholism, doi:10.1093/alcalc/agh083
© 2004 by Medical Council on Alcohol
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1 Department of Immunology, Medical Faculty, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: frankj{at}uni-greifswald.de.
Aims: To examine the immune consequences of chronic alcoholism in man, in relation to the known association between alcoholism and raised incidence and severity of infections. Methods: In 36 alcoholics without liver disease, at the point of commencing withdrawal from alcohol, the following measures of immune competence were measured: the immunophenotypes of cells, acute phase proteins, the endotoxin-neutralizing capacity (ENC) of the serum, titers of anti-lipopolysaccharide (LPS) antibodies, and ex vivo cytokine inducibility in T cells and monocytes (TNF
Revised June 11, 2004
Accepted June 12, 2004
Article
CHRONIC ALCOHOLISM CAUSES DELETERIOUS CONDITIONING OF INNATE IMMUNITY
2 Johanna-Odebrecht-Foundation, Evangelical Hospital Bethanien, Greifswald, Germany
3 Institute of Bacteriology and Mycology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
Abstract 
, IL1
, IL1RA, IL4, IL6, IL8, IL10 and IL12). The results were compared to those from healthy volunteers (day controls). Measures were repeated after 8-13 days of abstinence. Results: LPS-binding protein (LBP) and soluble CD14 (sCD14) were significantly increased in patients' sera at the outset of withdrawal, whereas reduced titers of anti-LPS IgG (P = 0.012) and a reduced ENC (P = 0.001) were measured. Only ENC rapidly returned to normal values after withdrawal therapy. Cytokine induction with phorbol ester showed no significant alterations in patients' T cells. Patients' monocytes, however, responded to LPS stimulation with enhanced IL1-, but reduced TNF- and IL12-production (P = 0.004, P = 0.0042 and P = 0.001, respectively). While IL1- and TNF-responses normalized after the withdrawal period, impairment of the IL12 response persisted throughout the observation period of 2 weeks. Conclusions: Alcoholism results in a prolonged LPS-mediated hypoinflammatory conditioning of the innate but not the adaptive immune system, which is not reversed immediately after withdrawal. This alcohol-induced status of the immune system predisposes to infections and sepsis by blunting initial response to the pathogens.
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  J.-H. Lee, A. Banerjee, Y. Ueno, and S. K. Ramaiah Potential Relationship between Hepatobiliary Osteopontin and Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor {alpha} Expression following Ethanol-Associated Hepatic Injury In Vivo and In Vitro Toxicol. Sci., November 1, 2008; 106(1): 290 - 299. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. K Singh, Y. Jiang, S. Gupta, and E. Benlhabib Effects of chronic ethanol drinking on the blood brain barrier and ensuing neuronal toxicity in alcohol-preferring rats subjected to intraperitoneal LPS injection Alcohol Alcohol., September 1, 2007; 42(5): 385 - 399. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
Q. Jiang, Y. Hu, P. Wu, X. Cheng, M. Li, D. Yu, and J. Deng Prenatal alcohol exposure and the neuroapoptosis with long-term effect in visual cortex of mice Alcohol Alcohol., July 1, 2007; 42(4): 285 - 290. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. H. Lau, M. Abe, and A. W. Thomson Ethanol affects the generation, cosignaling molecule expression, and function of plasmacytoid and myeloid dendritic cell subsets in vitro and in vivo J. Leukoc. Biol., May 1, 2006; 79(5): 941 - 953. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|