Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2010 Mar;5(1):83-91.
doi: 10.1007/s11481-009-9185-z. Epub 2009 Dec 18.

Circulating cytokines as biomarkers of alcohol abuse and alcoholism

Rajeshwara N Achur  1 , Willard M Freeman, Kent E Vrana
Affiliations
Review

Circulating cytokines as biomarkers of alcohol abuse and alcoholism

Rajeshwara N Achur et al. J Neuroimmune Pharmacol. 2010 Mar.

Abstract

There are currently no consistent objective biochemical markers of alcohol abuse and alcoholism. Development of reliable diagnostic biomarkers that permit accurate assessment of alcohol intake and patterns of drinking is of prime importance to treatment and research fields. Diagnostic biomarker development in other diseases has demonstrated the utility of both open, systems biology, screening for biomarkers and more rational focused efforts on specific biomolecules or families of biomolecules. Long-term alcohol consumption leads to altered inflammatory cell and adaptive immune responses with associated pathologies and increased incidence of infections. This has led researchers to focus attention on identifying cytokine biomarkers in models of alcohol abuse. Alcohol is known to alter cytokine levels in plasma and a variety of tissues including lung, liver, and very importantly brain. A number of cytokine biomarker candidates have been identified, including: tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin (IL)-1-alpha, IL-1-beta, IL-6, IL-8, IL-12, and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1. This is an emerging and potentially exciting avenue of research in that circulating cytokines may contribute to diagnostic biomarker panels, and a combination of multiple biomarkers may significantly increase the sensitivity and specificity of the biochemical tests aiding reliable and accurate detection of excessive alcohol intake.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Alterations of circulating cytokines in response to ethanol originate in a variety of tissues/organs. With increasing amount and duration of ethanol administration, initial changes in cytokine levels may feedback on the body causing secondary changes. Either individually or as panels, circulating cytokines may serve as diagnostic markers of alcohol abuse and alcohol-induced tissue damage.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Anton RF, Lieber C, Tabakoff B. Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin and gamma-glutamyltransferase for the detection and monitoring of alcohol use: results from a multisite study. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2002;26:1215–1222. - PubMed
    1. Bauer S, Cepok S, Todorova-Rudolph A, Nowak M, Koller M, Lorenz R, Oertel WH, Rosenow F, Hemmer B, Hamer HM. Etiology and site of temporal lobe epilepsy influence postictal cytokine release. Epilepsy Res. 2009;86:82–88. - PubMed
    1. Berner MM, Bentele M, Kriston L, Manz C, Clement HW, Harter M, Mundle G. DOVER and QUVER-new marker combinations to detect and monitor at-risk drinking. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2006;30:1372–1380. - PubMed
    1. Biermann T, Bonsch D, Reulbach U, Kornhuber J, Bleich S. Dopamine and N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor expression in peripheral blood of patients undergoing alcohol withdrawal. J Neural Transm. 2007;114:1081–1084. - PubMed
    1. Biomarkers Definitions Working Group. Biomarkers and surrogate endpoints: preferred definitions and conceptual framework. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2001;69:89–95. - PubMed

Publication types