Immune measures in alcohol-dependent persons with minor health abnormalities

Altered immunity is commonly associated with alcoholism. However, few studies have contrasted alcoholism per se with effects of the medical sequelae or comorbidities of alcoholism on the immune system. We previously found few differences in lymphocyte subsets, mitogen response, granulocytic phagocytosis, or natural killer cell activity when we compared healthy urban alcohol-dependent individuals with community control subjects. To begin to explore the role of medical factors, 11 alcohol-dependent persons derived from the same clinical population but showing mild medical abnormalities (AMMAs), primarily abnormal liver function test results, were compared with the previously described 44 alcohol-dependent persons without medical dysfunctions and 34 nonabusing community persons. The AMMAs had lower numbers of CD45RA + inducer–suppressor/naive cells ( P < .02) and HLA-DR+-activated T cells ( P < .04) compared with findings for nonabusers and higher percentages of circulating CD56 + natural killer cells ( P