Systemic immune modulation induced by alcoholic beverage intake in obese-diabetes (db/db) mice

Alcohol over-consumption is generally immunosuppressive. In this study, the effects of single or repetitive alcohol administration on the systemic immunity of db/db mice were observed to clarify the possible mechanisms for the increased susceptibility of obese individuals to alcohol-related immunological health problems. Alcohol (as a form of commercially available 20% distilled-alcoholic beverage) was orally administered one-time or seven times over 2 weeks to db/db mice and normal C57BL/6J mice. Immunologic alterations were analyzed by observation of body weight and animal activity, along with proportional changes of splenocytes for natural killer cells, macrophages, and T and B lymphocytes. Modulation of plasma cytokine level and immune-related genes were also ascertained by micro-bead assay and a microarray method, respectively. The immune micro-environment of db/db mice was an inflammatory state and adaptive cellular immunity was significantly suppressed. Low-dose alcohol administration reversed the immune response, decreasing inflammatory responses and the increment of adaptive immunity mainly related to CD4(+) T cells, but not CD8(+) T cells, to normal background levels. Systemic immune modulation due to alcohol administration in the obese-diabetic mouse model may be useful in the understanding of the induction mechanism, which will aid the development of therapeutics for related secondary diseases. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.