Researchers to discuss effects of alcohol on immune system at AIRIG meeting

Alcohol and Immunology Research Interest Group (AIRIG) Meeting

On Nov. 22, leading alcohol researchers from the United States and Europe will present the latest findings on how alcohol impairs the immune system.

The all-day conference will be held on the Loyola University Chicago Health Sciences Campus in Maywood, Il. About 65 researchers are expected to attend.

The more researchers learn about the effects of alcohol abuse, the more damaging it appears to be to the immune system. For example, alcohol abuse can cause liver inflammation, which can lead to cirrhosis of the liver and liver fibrosis (scarring). Long-term alcohol abuse also can lead to alcoholic cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the heart muscle weakens and fails to pump blood efficiently.

Sessions will be held on Alcohol and Liver Inflammation; Systemic Effects of Alcohol; and Alcohol: Infection and Immunology.

The conference is sponsored by the Alcohol and Immunology Research Interest Group and supported by National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and by Loyola's Alcohol Research Program, Department of Surgery and Burn and Shock Trauma Institute. The conference's Program Committee is chaired by Elizabeth Kovacs, PhD, director of Loyola's Alcohol Research Program and Mashkoor Choudhry, PhD, a member of the Alcohol Research Program.

###