Abuse of alcohol varied effects on the immune system. The best described effects of alcohol on the immune are suppression of lymphocyte responses and depletion of lymphoid cells from primary and secondary lymphoid organs. Although a great deal of progress has been made toward understanding the mechanisms of these changes, it is still unclear how alcohol affects the cells of the immune system. In the past 10 years a great deal of progress has been made toward understanding the effects of alcohol on various aspects of the immune response, and it is gratifying to see the study results from a number of laboratories begin to coalesce into some unified themes. This includes the studies that have been done with the use of animal models and human beings. The process of developing unified concepts of alcohol's effects has been advanced through small meetings (e.g., the meetings organized by the co-PI's of this grant) that have been dedicated to the topic of alcohol's effects on the immune system. The meetings that have been dedicated specifically to alcohol and immunity have been held since 1991 and have involved individuals from groups dedicated to all aspects of immune system effects, including studies of alcoholic human beings. Although the past meeting included some aspects of other drugs of abuse, those topics were limited and most of the meeting was dedicated to the topic of alcohol. At the last meeting, the members of this group decided it would be best to hold these meetings in conjunction with the annual scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism. It was believed that this would allow more junior scientists, such as graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty, to attend both meetings. It is proposed that the two-day meeting will be devoted to the discussion of the effects of alcohol on the immune system. We and others believe that the studies on the effects of ethanol on the immune system have advanced enough and are important enough to warrant highlighting this topic as this important meeting. Most of the grant funds requested are to bring graduate students and other junior individuals to this satellite and the RSA meeting. One session (3 hours) of the satellite meeting will be devoted to presentations by students and fellows.
