Alcohol and Health Focus On: Alcohol and the Immune System Overview of the Human Immune System Alcohol and Health Alcohol and Health Alcohol and the Innate Immune Response Alcohol and Health
Alcohol and Health Focus On: Alcohol and the Immune System Overview of the Human Immune System Alcohol and Health Alcohol and Health Alcohol and the Innate Immune Response Alcohol and Health
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通讯作者:
P. Molina;K. Happel;Ping Zhang;J. Kolls;S. Nelson;E. Patricia;Molina
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作者:
P. Molina;K. Happel;Ping Zhang;J. Kolls;S. Nelson;E. Patricia;Molina
Alcohol abuse suppresses multiple arms of the immune response, leading to an increased risk of infections. The course and resolution of both bacterial and viral infections is severely impaired in alcoholabusing patients, resulting in greater patient morbidity and mortality. Multiple mechanisms have been identified underlying the immunosuppressive effects of alcohol. 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 alcoholrelated dysregulation of other components. Analyses of alcohol's diverse effects on various components of the immune system provide insight into the factors that lead to a greater risk of infection in the alcoholabusing 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. KEY WORDS: Alcohol abuse; alcohol and other drug effects and consequences; immune system; immune response; immunosuppressive effect; infection; bacterial infection; viral infection; communicable disease; host defense mechanisms B oth acute and chronic alcohol abuse can induce significant defects in the body's defense against microorganisms (i.e., pathogens) by interfering with multiple aspects of the immune response. The resulting increased risk and severity of infections in chronic alcoholics has been recog nized as early as 1785, by Benjamin Rush, the first Surgeon General of the United States. The impact of alcohol abuse on risk and severity of infection has been demonstrated par ticularly well for infections of the respiratory tract, especially bacterial pneumonia and tuberculosis (Zhang et al. 2008). Alcohol consumption also is associated with a higher preva lence of hepatitis C infection (Prakash et al. 2002) and increases the risk of infection with the human immunodefi ciency virus (HIV), particularly in binge drinkers (Baliunas et al. 2009). In addition to increasing the risk of infections, alcohol abuse has been reported to contribute to the morbidity and mortality resulting from these infections in alcohol abusing patients. This is particularly relevant in chronic infections, such as HIV and hepatitis C. After providing a brief overview of the human immune system and its various components, this article summarizes alcohol's diverse effects on these components. The body constantly is exposed to pathogens that penetrate either our external surface (i.e., the skin), through wounds or burns, or the internal surfaces (i.e., epithelia) lining the respiratory …