Cook R T
Department of Pathology, Veterans Administration Medical Center, and the University of Iowa, Iowa City 52246, USA.
Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 1998 Dec;22(9):1927-42.
Chronic alcohol abuse exacts a major social and medical toll in the United States and other Western countries. One of the least appreciated medical complications of alcohol abuse is altered immune regulation leading to immunodeficiency and autoimmunity. The consequences of the immunodeficiency include increased susceptibility to bacterial pneumonia, tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases. In addition, the chronic alcoholic often has circulating autoantibodies, and recent investigations indicate that the most destructive complications of alcoholism, such as liver disease and liver failure, may have a component of autoimmunity. Current research on altered cytokine balance produced by alcohol is leading to new insights on the regulation of the immune system in the chronic alcoholic. There is also recent development of exciting new techniques designed to improve or restore immune function by manipulation of cytokine balance. Although much remains to be learned, both in the abnormalities produced by alcohol and in the techniques to reverse those abnormalities, current progress reflects a rapidly improving understanding of the basic immune disorders of the alcoholic.
在美国和其他西方国家，长期酗酒造成了巨大的社会和医学负担。酗酒最容易被忽视的医学并发症之一是免疫调节改变，进而导致免疫缺陷和自身免疫。免疫缺陷的后果包括易患细菌性肺炎、肺结核和其他传染病。此外，慢性酗酒者体内常常存在循环自身抗体，最近的研究表明，酗酒最具破坏性的并发症，如肝病和肝衰竭，可能有自身免疫的成分。目前关于酒精引起的细胞因子平衡改变的研究，正在为慢性酗酒者免疫系统的调节带来新的见解。最近还开发出了令人兴奋的新技术，旨在通过调节细胞因子平衡来改善或恢复免疫功能。尽管在酒精造成的异常以及逆转这些异常的技术方面仍有许多有待了解之处，但目前的进展反映出人们对酗酒者基本免疫紊乱的理解正在迅速提高。
