Alcohol takes the toll on immune function

摘要

In 30-50% patients with cirrhosis, infection is the precipitating event that brings them into the hospital. A further 15-35% develop nosocomial infections during their hospital stay as compared with 5-7% in the general hospital population (1). Patients with alcoholic cirrhosis have a 6.3-fold increased risk to die from an episode of bacteraemia (2). These data support the hypothesis that patients with alcoholic cirrhosis are likely to have underlying immune dysfunction that makes them susceptible to increased risk of infections. The mechanism of this immune dysfunction is unclear. The paper by Pimentel-Nunes et al. (3) in the present issue of the journal suggest that even patients with stable alcoholic cirrhosis who are abstinent have a defect of the innate immune system mediated through a dysfunction of the toll-like receptor-2 (TLR-2) pathway.