Mechanistic-based biomarkers of abusive alcohol consumption

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Project Summary Excessive alcohol use (EAU) is becoming recognized as an emerging health-related problem especially among veterans returning from combats. There is a need for increased vigilance and action to identify and counsel these at-risk veterans. Unfortunately, we lack the reliable diagnostic tests to detect the dangerous levels of drinking. Such tests would be indispensable for screening and care for veterans with excessive alcohol use. We hypothesize that several novel serum and urine markers based on the effect of alcohol on immune cells can be used as the predictive biomarkers for EAU. To test this hypothesis, we plan to pursue the following specific aims. SPECIFIC AIM # 1. To determine the effect of EAU on organ systems using system biology and by detecting, identifying, and comparing the relative quantity of these novel targets and evaluate these as potential biomarkers and SPECIFIC AIM # 2. To determine the predictive capacity of these biomarkers for alcohol-related health consequences. If successful, the results from this project will revolutionize the screening methods for veterans with excessive alcohol use.