Impact of Alcohol Abuse on the Adaptive Immune System Alcohol Research: Current Reviews
These mechanisms involve structural host defense mechanisms in the gastrointestinal and respiratory tract as well as all of the principal components of the innate and adaptive immune systems, which are compromised both through alcohol’s direct effects and through alcohol-related dysregulation of other components. Analyses of alcohol’s diverse effects does alcohol weaken your immune system on various components of the immune system provide insight into the factors that lead to a greater risk of infection in the alcohol-abusing population. Some of these mechanisms are directly related to the pathology found in people with infections such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, hepatitis, and pneumonia who continue to use and abuse alcohol.
How Different Drugs Cause Heart Damage — Plus, Signs to Look for
Acutely, NK activity is thought to be beneficial; NK cells release IFN-γ which downregulates a variety of lipogenic and fatty uptake genes (2). Alcohol can perturb the iNKT/NK cell balance, favoring iNKT cell maturation while suppressing the maturation of NK cells (3). For example, ethanol impairs the release of IL-15 which promotes the maturation of NK cells (4). Ethanol can also promote the release of IL-10 from iNKT cells which will suppress NK activity (5).
- Lowered inhibitions can lead to poor choices with lasting repercussions — like the end of a relationship, an accident or legal woes.
- Nonhuman primates, on the other hand, voluntarily consume different amounts of alcohol and allow us to conduct studies in an outbred species that shares significant physiological and genetic homology with humans while maintaining rigorous control over diet and other environmental cues.
- Anywhere from 20% to 40% of people with anxiety and mood disorders have an alcohol use disorder, and up to 60% of people who seek out AUD treatment have post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the scientific literature.
- Alcohol modifies the intestinal microbiota, pH and permeability of the intestine, causing an increased entry of endotoxins into our CNS and brain, leading to neuroinflammatory processes.
- In contrast, ethanol exposure did not significantly affect the development of the lytic functions of NK cells (Wolcott et al. 1995).
- Changes persisted at least 30 days after alcohol exposure suggestive of longlasting consequences of ethanol on microglia function (McClain, Morris et al. 2011).
Impact of AUD on Adaptive Immune Responses
The spike in alcohol sales has alarmed health experts and officials around the world, who are concerned that increased drinking could make people even more vulnerable to the respiratory disease. Heavy drinking can also lead to a host of health concerns, like brain damage, heart disease, cirrhosis of the liver and even certain kinds of cancer. It used to be thought that moderate alcohol consumption confers health benefits, but experts now recognize that regularly imbibing can have a variety of harmful health consequences. “It can exacerbate depression, increase blood pressure, and lead to cardiac arrhythmias,” Koob says. — Some research suggests no amount of alcohol is good for you, while other studies say moderate drinking may actually boost immune function more than teetotalling.
- Interestingly, in addition to supporting neuroinflammation, TLR signaling is likely engaged in the mechanisms of regulation of the functional activity of neurotransmitter systems, which may contribute to the formation of a pathological demand for alcohol [106].
- Among men in 2016, an estimated 2.3 million deaths and 106.5 million DALYs were attributable to the consumption of alcohol.
- Multiple researchers have reported that alcohol use can deplete critical cell subpopulations, by impairing cell maturation and chemotaxis.
- The innate immune response orchestrated by all these components provides the first line of defense against invading pathogens and plays a key role in the activation and orientation of adaptive immunity, as well as in the maintenance of tissue integrity and repair.
- The loss of B-2 cells may explain why alcoholics often cannot respond adequately to new antigens.
What your biological age can reveal about your health
Likewise, male rats fed an ethanol-containing liquid diet (8.7% v/v for up to 4 weeks) experienced a progressive loss of both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells (Boyadjieva, Dokur et al. 2002). Increased apoptosis of T and B lymphocytes isolated from the thymus, spleen, and lymph nodes of female mice was observed following 16 hour culture with 0.4%-2% ethanol, concentrations 5 to 25 times the definition of intoxication (Slukvin and Jerrells 1995). In contrast to these observations, moderate consumption of beer (330mL for women and 660mL for men) for https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/can-you-gain-weight-because-of-alcohol/ 30 days resulted in a significant increase in the number of leukocytes, mature CD3+ T lymphocytes, neutrophils and basophils in women, while only basophils were increased in men (Romeo, Warnberg et al. 2007). As described earlier for adult humans, alcohol can lead to increases in Ig levels during development, even if the numbers of mature B cells decrease. Thus, maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy (12 mg/week for most of the pregnancy) increased IgE levels in the umbilical cord blood of the infants (Bjerke et al. 1994).
Modulation of Adaptive Immunity by Alcohol
Watch: Why babies can’t drink water
Alcohol and the Adaptive Immune Response
Circulating Factors
- Reduced cell-mediated immunity was proposed as a potential explanation for the high incidence of head and neck cancer observed in alcoholic patients (Lundy et al. 1975).
- Also, bacteria that escape this area can change the immune system in your liver, which can lead to inflammation and, potentially, alcoholic liver disease.
- However, it is likely that ILC2s are affected by alcohol and contribute to alcohol-induced end-organ damage.
- Early studies already had indicated that chronic alcohol abuse (i.e., for 12 to 15 years) resulted in reduced numbers of peripheral T cells (Liu 1973; McFarland and Libre 1963).
- By illuminating the key events and mechanisms of alcohol-induced immune activation or suppression, research is yielding deeper insights into alcohol’s highly variable and sometimes paradoxical influences on immune function.
