Summary of the 2019 alcohol and immunology research interest group (AIRIG) meeting: Alcohol-mediated mechanisms of multiple organ injury

Rachel H McMahan; Majid Afshar; Angela M Amedee; Faraz Bishehsari; Rotonya M Carr; Leon G Coleman; Caroline J Herrnreiter; Sloan L Lewis; Pranoti Mandrekar; Rebecca L McCullough; Niya L Morris; Vasilis Vasiliou; H Joe Wang; Samantha M Yeligar; Mashkoor A Choudhry; Elizabeth J Kovacs

doi:10.1016/j.alcohol.2020.04.008

Summary of the 2019 alcohol and immunology research interest group (AIRIG) meeting: Alcohol-mediated mechanisms of multiple organ injury

Alcohol. 2020 Sep:87:89-95. doi: 10.1016/j.alcohol.2020.04.008. Epub 2020 Apr 28.

Authors

Rachel H McMahan¹, Majid Afshar², Angela M Amedee³, Faraz Bishehsari⁴, Rotonya M Carr⁵, Leon G Coleman⁶, Caroline J Herrnreiter⁷, Sloan L Lewis⁸, Pranoti Mandrekar⁹, Rebecca L McCullough¹⁰, Niya L Morris¹¹, Vasilis Vasiliou¹², H Joe Wang¹³, Samantha M Yeligar¹¹, Mashkoor A Choudhry¹⁴, Elizabeth J Kovacs¹⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Surgery, University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA; Alcohol Research Program, University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA. Electronic address: rachel.mcmahan@cuanschutz.edu.
² Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Loyola University Chicago Health Sciences Campus, Maywood, IL, USA; Alcohol Research Program, Burn and Shock Trauma Research Institute, Loyola University Chicago Health Sciences Campus, Maywood, IL, USA.
³ Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Parasitology and the Comprehensive Alcohol Research Center, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA, USA.
⁴ Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA.
⁵ Division of Gastroenterology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
⁶ Department of Pharmacology, Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies, UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
⁷ Alcohol Research Program, Burn and Shock Trauma Research Institute, Loyola University Chicago Health Sciences Campus, Maywood, IL, USA.
⁸ Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, University of California-Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
⁹ Department of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA.
¹⁰ Alcohol Research Program, University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA; Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA.
¹¹ Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep, Emory University and Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Decatur, GA, USA.
¹² Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Yale School of Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
¹³ Division of Metabolism and Health Effects, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Rockville, MD, USA.
¹⁴ Alcohol Research Program, Burn and Shock Trauma Research Institute, Loyola University Chicago Health Sciences Campus, Maywood, IL, USA; Department of Surgery, Loyola University Chicago Health Sciences Campus, Maywood, IL, USA.
¹⁵ Department of Surgery, University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA; Alcohol Research Program, University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA; Immunology Graduate Program, University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA.

Abstract

On November 15, 2019, the 24th annual Alcohol and Immunology Research Interest Group (AIRIG) meeting was held as a satellite conference during the annual Society for Leukocyte Biology meeting in Boston, Massachusetts. The 2019 meeting focused on alcohol, immunity, and organ damage, and included two plenary sessions. The first session highlighted new research exploring the mechanisms of alcohol-induced inflammation and liver disease, including effects on lipidomics and lipophagy, regulatory T cells, epigenetics, epithelial cells, and age-related changes in the gut. The second session covered alcohol-induced injury of other organs, encompassing diverse areas of research ranging from neurodegeneration, to lung barrier function, to colon carcinogenesis, to effects on viral infection. The discussions also highlighted current laboratory and clinical research used to identify biomarkers of alcohol use and disease.

Keywords: alcohol; inflammation; lipid; metabolomics; microRNA; microbiome; organ damage.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Review

MeSH terms

Alcohol Drinking* / adverse effects
Alcoholism / diagnosis
Biomarkers
Boston
Congresses as Topic
Ethanol / toxicity
Humans
Inflammation

Substances

Biomarkers
Ethanol

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding