Your Immune System: Things That Can Weaken It

Sunlight may energize special cells in your immune system called T-cells that help fight infection. Many plants in the woods make phytoncides and other substances you breathe in that seem to bolster your immune function. “Alcohol also destroys the protective lining inside your respiratory tract that your immune system uses to prevent upper respiratory tract infections like the common cold,” Dasgupta says.

• These molecules enter the circulation to the liver where they activate endothelial and stellate cells as well as hepatocytes, resulting in a chronic inflammatory environment aggravating organ injury.
• Thiamine, also known as vitamin B1, contributes to the activation of T cells, suppresses oxidative stress-induced NFκB activation in macrophages, and serves as an anti-inflammatory factor (Manzetti, Zhang et al. 2014).
• Interestingly, exposing mice for three or four weeks to alcohol produces higher levels of TLR4 in liver macrophages compared to control mice.

These may include infections after surgery, traumatic injury, or burns; accelerated progression of HIV disease; adult respiratory distress syndrome and other opportunistic lung infections; and infection with hepatitis C virus, cirrhosis, or liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma). In addition to the Th1 response, alcohol appears to interfere with the Th17 response. For example, does alcohol compromise your immune system following an infectious challenge, acute alcohol can suppress alveolar macrophage expression of IL-23, which helps activate naïve T-cells to differentiate into Th17 cells (Happel et al. 2006). Similarly, as with the Th1 responses, alcohol inhibits the ability of dendritic cells to promote Th17 responses, thereby favoring Th2 responses (Heinz and Waltenbaugh 2007).

Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and the Developing Immune System

There may be important differences in the effects of ethanol on the immune system depending on whether the study is conducted in vitro or in vivo, as the latter allows for a complex psychogenic component in which stress-related hormones and immune-signaling molecules interact. In addition, most studies have been done in vitro using primary cells or cell lines in the presence of rather high, constant doses of ethanol. Similarly, most rodent studies to date have focused on acute/short-term binge models utilizing high concentration of ethanol (20% ethanol) as the sole source of fluid, a possible stressor in itself. Therefore, there is a pressing need for in depth studies that examine dose-dependent effects of chronic ethanol consumption on immunity in vivo to allow for the complex interactions between ethanol, its metabolites, HPA signaling, nutritional deficiencies, and the immune system.

Therefore, more studies looking at the effects of ethanol metabolites in vivo are needed. Acetaldehyde has also been shown to affect NFκB-induced cytokine production in various liver cells. Finally, acetaldehyde disrupts intestinal epithelial barrier function and increases paracellular permeability which plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of alcoholic liver disease by a tyrosine kinase-dependent mechanism (Sheth, Seth et al. 2004). In contrast to the inhibitory effects of acute alcohol treatment (up to 24 hours), prolonged exposure of human (men and women) peripheral blood monocytes to 25mM ethanol for 7 days increased LPS-induced TNF-α production without affecting IL-10 production (Pang, Bala et al. 2011). Prolonged exposure of Mono Mac 6 cell line to 25mM, 50mM and 75mM ethanol for 7 days also reverses the initial inhibition of LPS or PMA-induced TNF-α production in a dose-dependent manner (Zhang, Bagby et al. 2001).

How much alcohol does it take to weaken your immune system?

As we said before, your immune system protects your body from unwelcome invaders and certain types of cancers. What’s more, a short period of binge drinking — let’s say a month — can cause a reduction in T cells. And this reduction is equal to that of someone who has been binge drinking for 6 months. If you’re unfamiliar, inflammation is what naturally occurs when your immune system goes into action.

Costly requirements such as dedicated facilities to house the animals, experienced personnel to perform specialized procedures, and compliance with high standards of care must be considered. Alcohol also impacts the function of immune cells of the central nervous system (CNS), particularly astrocytes and microglia. Astrocytes are major glial cells that regulate neuronal function and CNS homeostasis. Their ability to serve as antigen presenting cells and produce cytokines in vivo has been controversial (Dong and Benveniste 2001).