Researchers at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) and
University of Iowa (UI), have jointly received a five-year, $6.3 million
grant from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, one
of the National Institutes of Health, to study immune system abnormalities
caused by chronic alcohol abuse.
The UI researchers will receive $4.85 million and UNMC will receive
nearly $1.5 million to conduct studies.
The research in our lab is designed to define how immune system response
to viral infections damages the liver and the role of alcohol abuse in
the severity of the infections, said Thomas Jerrells, Ph.D., UNMC professor
of pathology and microbiology and principal investigator of the UNMC grant.
Hepatitis C virus infections are severe in human beings who abuse alcohol,
but the mechanisms of the interactions of alcohol abuse and how the virus
causes damage are not identified. Hopefully, the data obtained from these
studies will provide ideas of how to intervene in these serious consequences
of alcohol abuse by human beings.
Robert Cook, M.D., Ph.D., UI professor of pathology and director of
clinical laboratories at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) in
Iowa City, is the coordinator of the grant. Cook and his colleagues will
study the effects of chronic alcohol abuse on various components of the
immune system and also will investigate the effects of alcohol on the immune
system responses to infectious diseases.
“People who chronically abuse alcohol develop immunodeficiency, which
leaves them more prone to infectious diseases such as pneumonia,” Dr. Cook
said. “Not only does this cause health problems for those individuals,
but it also increases the societal cost from health care expenses and lost
productivity. Our studies will provide the first comprehensive description
of what the immune system abnormalities are present so we can begin to
tailor therapies.”
Although increased rates of infection in people who abuse alcohol are
an indication of immune system problems, it has not been possible in the
past to obtain a clear understanding of the cellular mechanisms that underlie
deficiencies of the immune system. Dr. Cook explained that a new animal
model has been developed that will allow the research team to investigate
the immune system changes caused by chronic alcohol exposure.
“Using mice with various genetic predispositions, we are able to put
them on alcohol-containing diets and keep them reasonably healthy for a
long period of time,” Dr. Cook said. “In the past that has been difficult,
but now we have an animal model of chronic alcohol exposure that produces
similar immune system changes to
those observed in chronic human alcoholics.”
He and his colleagues at the UI and UNMC will use this animal model
as well as cell culture studies to investigate the effect of chronic alcohol
abuse on various cellular components of the immune system including T-cells,
B-cells, dendritic cells, monocytes and natural killer cells. Each of these
cell types play different roles in fighting infectious diseases.