Alcohol intoxication and advanced age impair the pulmonary inflammatory response to infection

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) patients have increased susceptibility to bacterial pneumonias. Alveolar macrophages (AMs) isolated from AUD subjects have skewed cytokine and chemokine profiles. Advanced age is associated with compromised immunity and elevated basal inflammation, known as inflamm-aging, which primes the lungs to generate an excessive inflammatory reaction in response to infection. Aged mice (18-20 months) given an intratracheal Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection had reduced survival, increased circulating granulocytes, and defective neutrophil directional migration, when compared to young (2-4 months) infected mice.

Source: Alcohol - March 1, 2017 Category: Addiction Authors: B.J. Curtis, J.M. Albright, D.M. Boe, E.J. Kovacs Source Type: research