Alcohol, aging, and innate immunity

Journal of Leukocyte Biology
Lisbeth A Boule, Elizabeth J Kovacs

Abstract

The global population is aging: in 2010, 8% of the population was older than 65 y, and that is expected to double to 16% by 2050. With advanced age comes a heightened prevalence of chronic diseases. Moreover, elderly humans fair worse after acute diseases, namely infection, leading to higher rates of infection-mediated mortality. Advanced age alters many aspects of both the innate and adaptive immune systems, leading to impaired responses to primary infection and poor development of immunologic memory. An often overlooked, yet increasingly common, behavior in older individuals is alcohol consumption. In fact, it has been estimated that >40% of older adults consume alcohol, and evidence reveals that >10% of this group is drinking more than the recommended limit by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Alcohol consumption, at any level, alters host immune responses, including changes in the number, phenotype, and function of innate and adaptive immune cells. Thus, understanding the effect of alcohol ingestion on the immune system of older individuals, who are already less capable of combating infection, merits further study. However, there is currently almost nothing known about how drinking alters innate immuni...Continue Reading

Citations

Nov 30, 2018·Aging Cell·Christine R Keenan, Rhys S Allan
Nov 20, 2019·Journal of Clinical Medicine·Shinwan KanyBorna Relja
Dec 14, 2019·PloS One·Stephanie C DreckmannMarc G Jeschke
Apr 2, 2020·International Journal of Molecular Sciences·Bin PengXin Wang
Dec 19, 2017·Cell and Tissue Research·Weronika Ortmann, Elzbieta Kolaczkowska
Sep 13, 2021·Hepatology : Official Journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases·Ruixue RenHua Wang

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