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Alcohol, Drugs of Abuse, and Immune Functions. Edited by Ronald R. Watson
JOBNAME: BBI Vol 10#1 PAGE: 1 SESS: 20 OUTPUT: Sat May 11 13:52:00 1996 /xypage/worksmart/tsp000/68408k/8
BRAIN, BEHAVIOR, AND IMMUNITY ARTICLE NO. 0007
10, 74–75 (1996)
BOOK REVIEWS Alcohol, Drugs of Abuse, and Immune Functions. Edited by RONALD R. WATSON, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, 264 pp. $125.00. This book is one of nine published books in a CRC series titled Physiology and Drug Abuse (also edited by Ronald R. Watson). It is composed of 16 chapters, and although these chapters are not organized into subsections by theme, they generally follow a logical progression. A perusal of the references throughout the book revealed that the most recent citations were circa 1993–1994. Thus, this volume appears to reflect the most current literature available at the time the chapters were prepared for publication. The volume begins with a concise, well-organized, and generally well-documented review of “Immunomodulation Associated with Depression and Stress” by Levy and Chancellor-Freeland. This is followed by two chapters describing the effects of alcohol on immune status in animals. The first by Grossman and co-workers focuses on “only those effects reported in animal models for various aspects of cell-mediated immunity.” I found this to be a well-written and informative short review of this topic. The second of these by Ardestani and Watson (“Immunomodulation by Alcohol in Mice”) is more global and includes discussion of issues ranging from the criteria an animal model of alcoholism should fulfill to the effects of alcohol consumption on immunomodulation and cancer in mice. Chapters 4 and 5 examine the relation of “Alcohol and Infections of the Lung” (by Roselle et al.) and “T Cell Modulations in Human Alcoholics” (by Cook), respectively. The following chapter, “Alcoholic Liver Disease, Malnutrition, and the Immune Response,” by Chedid is one of the best I have read relating malnutrition and liver pathology to alterations in immune status (in sharp contrast, in my opinion, to some seeking to relate questionable changes in immune status to various micronutrients). This was followed by a presentation of “Modulation of Cytokine Production in Humans Lymphoid and Myeloid Cells by Alcohol in Vitro” (primarily proinflammatory cytokines), by Szabo and colleagues. I found the next chapter to be the most interesting and intriguing one of this volume. This chapter by Borgs et al., titled “Alcohol, Endothelial Cells, and Immunity,” presented a nice review of the diverse immunological characteristics of endothelial cells and their relevance to an array of important physiological processes (e.g., leukocyte trafficking, angiogenesis) and their potential involvement in pathology associated with drugs of abuse. This was followed by a chapter by Redei and colleagues of the “Effect of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure on Hypothalamic–Pituitary–Adrenal Function and Expression of Glucocorticoid-Regulated Genes.” While I enjoyed reading this chapter, unfortunately there were no data or discussion of how the HPA axis changes induced by prenatal alcohol may impact on immunity. The subsequent chapter by Thurman and colleagues on the role of Kupffer cells and free radicals on alcohol metabolism and toxicity was exceptionally good. Chapters 11–14 are concerned with the influence of alcohol on HIV. In their chapter titled “Do Alcohol and Other Substances of Abuse Alter the Natural Evolution of and the Susceptibility to Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 Infections?” Bagarsa and colleagues present a very well done and concise presentation of the virology and molecular basis of HIV actions. Included is discussion of the effects of how CD8+ lymphocytes are affected 74 0889-1591/96 $18.00 Copyright © 1996 by Academic Press, Inc. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.
JOBNAME: BBI Vol 10#1 PAGE: 2 SESS: 21 OUTPUT: Sat May 11 13:52:00 1996 /xypage/worksmart/tsp000/68408k/8
BOOK REVIEWS
75
by the virus, and secondarily, how drugs of abuse may impact on retroviral-directed natural defenses. The chapter is concluded by a brief subsection (“Hypothesis and Propects for Molecular Immunity”) which pulls it all together and leaves the reader with a sense of directions for future work in this area of HIV research (not specifically the role of drugs of abuse per se). This is followed by two chapters presenting data from studies of alcohol on immune status using a murine model of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. These are “Alcohol and Immunomodulation during Murine Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome” by Wang et al. and “Dysregulation in Cytokine Production by Alcohol Consumption: A Cofactor in the Development of Murine Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome” by Wang and Watson. Both of these chapters contain some discussion of how animal models permit testing hypotheses about the influence of alcohol on immunological processes relevant to humans with HIV. Certainly a case can be made that such models could shed light on the controversy that exists among current studies of substances of abuse in HIV disease in humans and aid clinical researchers in the design of future studies. This is followed by a related, somewhat more theoretical and clinically oriented chapter (though substantially overlapping with the previous one) on “Alcohol Abuse as a Possible Cofactor in the Progression of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome: Do Th-1 and Th-2 Helper T Cell Subsets Play a Role” by D. A. Cohen. The second to last chapter is titled “The Role of Alcohol in Endocrine–Immune Interactions,” also written by Wang and Watson. This short chapter, which presents a theoretical basis for endocrine–immune interactions elicited by alcohol, also indirectly calls attention to the need for more empirical data in this difficult area of alcohol research (more below). The book concludes with Chapter 16, a study of the “Effects of Cocaine on Certain Macrophage Functions” by Lefkowitz and co-workers. It seems somewhat out of place as a final chapter to this volume. Indeed, I would have found the book to be more complete with a summary or concluding chapter pulling together some of the salient themes from the preceding chapters and attempting to give the reader a feel for future investigation. Overall, I found the quality of the chapters of this book to be above average, and several of the chapters to be excellent. I would envision the target audience to be fairly broad, ranging from graduate students and PNI investigators not directly involved in research on drugs of abuse to non-research-oriented healthcare providers. It is noteworthy that the focus of the work in this volume is the effects of alcohol on aspects of immune system function. Although I appreciate the myriad actions of alcohol and the formidable challenges of this type of research, a significant question of interest to me, and one which may be common to many readers of Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, received relatively little attention, i.e., disentangling which of these actions of alcohol on the immune system are initiated at the level of the CNS and mediated via neural and neuroendocrine pathways. Finally, and certainly no fault of the authors, perhaps the most notable consideration for those potentially interested in reading this otherwise worthwhile volume is the price tag it carries. At a time when researchers, teachers, and clinicians are experiencing leaner operating budgets, $125.00 is a substantial price to pay for a short book of this nature. JOHN M. PETITTO Departments of Psychiatry, Pharmacology, and Neuroscience University of Florida College of Medicine Gainesville, Florida 32610-0256
BRAIN, BEHAVIOR, AND IMMUNITY ARTICLE NO. 0007
10, 74–75 (1996)
BOOK REVIEWS Alcohol, Drugs of Abuse, and Immune Functions. Edited by RONALD R. WATSON, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, 264 pp. $125.00. This book is one of nine published books in a CRC series titled Physiology and Drug Abuse (also edited by Ronald R. Watson). It is composed of 16 chapters, and although these chapters are not organized into subsections by theme, they generally follow a logical progression. A perusal of the references throughout the book revealed that the most recent citations were circa 1993–1994. Thus, this volume appears to reflect the most current literature available at the time the chapters were prepared for publication. The volume begins with a concise, well-organized, and generally well-documented review of “Immunomodulation Associated with Depression and Stress” by Levy and Chancellor-Freeland. This is followed by two chapters describing the effects of alcohol on immune status in animals. The first by Grossman and co-workers focuses on “only those effects reported in animal models for various aspects of cell-mediated immunity.” I found this to be a well-written and informative short review of this topic. The second of these by Ardestani and Watson (“Immunomodulation by Alcohol in Mice”) is more global and includes discussion of issues ranging from the criteria an animal model of alcoholism should fulfill to the effects of alcohol consumption on immunomodulation and cancer in mice. Chapters 4 and 5 examine the relation of “Alcohol and Infections of the Lung” (by Roselle et al.) and “T Cell Modulations in Human Alcoholics” (by Cook), respectively. The following chapter, “Alcoholic Liver Disease, Malnutrition, and the Immune Response,” by Chedid is one of the best I have read relating malnutrition and liver pathology to alterations in immune status (in sharp contrast, in my opinion, to some seeking to relate questionable changes in immune status to various micronutrients). This was followed by a presentation of “Modulation of Cytokine Production in Humans Lymphoid and Myeloid Cells by Alcohol in Vitro” (primarily proinflammatory cytokines), by Szabo and colleagues. I found the next chapter to be the most interesting and intriguing one of this volume. This chapter by Borgs et al., titled “Alcohol, Endothelial Cells, and Immunity,” presented a nice review of the diverse immunological characteristics of endothelial cells and their relevance to an array of important physiological processes (e.g., leukocyte trafficking, angiogenesis) and their potential involvement in pathology associated with drugs of abuse. This was followed by a chapter by Redei and colleagues of the “Effect of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure on Hypothalamic–Pituitary–Adrenal Function and Expression of Glucocorticoid-Regulated Genes.” While I enjoyed reading this chapter, unfortunately there were no data or discussion of how the HPA axis changes induced by prenatal alcohol may impact on immunity. The subsequent chapter by Thurman and colleagues on the role of Kupffer cells and free radicals on alcohol metabolism and toxicity was exceptionally good. Chapters 11–14 are concerned with the influence of alcohol on HIV. In their chapter titled “Do Alcohol and Other Substances of Abuse Alter the Natural Evolution of and the Susceptibility to Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 Infections?” Bagarsa and colleagues present a very well done and concise presentation of the virology and molecular basis of HIV actions. Included is discussion of the effects of how CD8+ lymphocytes are affected 74 0889-1591/96 $18.00 Copyright © 1996 by Academic Press, Inc. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.
JOBNAME: BBI Vol 10#1 PAGE: 2 SESS: 21 OUTPUT: Sat May 11 13:52:00 1996 /xypage/worksmart/tsp000/68408k/8
BOOK REVIEWS
75
by the virus, and secondarily, how drugs of abuse may impact on retroviral-directed natural defenses. The chapter is concluded by a brief subsection (“Hypothesis and Propects for Molecular Immunity”) which pulls it all together and leaves the reader with a sense of directions for future work in this area of HIV research (not specifically the role of drugs of abuse per se). This is followed by two chapters presenting data from studies of alcohol on immune status using a murine model of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. These are “Alcohol and Immunomodulation during Murine Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome” by Wang et al. and “Dysregulation in Cytokine Production by Alcohol Consumption: A Cofactor in the Development of Murine Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome” by Wang and Watson. Both of these chapters contain some discussion of how animal models permit testing hypotheses about the influence of alcohol on immunological processes relevant to humans with HIV. Certainly a case can be made that such models could shed light on the controversy that exists among current studies of substances of abuse in HIV disease in humans and aid clinical researchers in the design of future studies. This is followed by a related, somewhat more theoretical and clinically oriented chapter (though substantially overlapping with the previous one) on “Alcohol Abuse as a Possible Cofactor in the Progression of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome: Do Th-1 and Th-2 Helper T Cell Subsets Play a Role” by D. A. Cohen. The second to last chapter is titled “The Role of Alcohol in Endocrine–Immune Interactions,” also written by Wang and Watson. This short chapter, which presents a theoretical basis for endocrine–immune interactions elicited by alcohol, also indirectly calls attention to the need for more empirical data in this difficult area of alcohol research (more below). The book concludes with Chapter 16, a study of the “Effects of Cocaine on Certain Macrophage Functions” by Lefkowitz and co-workers. It seems somewhat out of place as a final chapter to this volume. Indeed, I would have found the book to be more complete with a summary or concluding chapter pulling together some of the salient themes from the preceding chapters and attempting to give the reader a feel for future investigation. Overall, I found the quality of the chapters of this book to be above average, and several of the chapters to be excellent. I would envision the target audience to be fairly broad, ranging from graduate students and PNI investigators not directly involved in research on drugs of abuse to non-research-oriented healthcare providers. It is noteworthy that the focus of the work in this volume is the effects of alcohol on aspects of immune system function. Although I appreciate the myriad actions of alcohol and the formidable challenges of this type of research, a significant question of interest to me, and one which may be common to many readers of Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, received relatively little attention, i.e., disentangling which of these actions of alcohol on the immune system are initiated at the level of the CNS and mediated via neural and neuroendocrine pathways. Finally, and certainly no fault of the authors, perhaps the most notable consideration for those potentially interested in reading this otherwise worthwhile volume is the price tag it carries. At a time when researchers, teachers, and clinicians are experiencing leaner operating budgets, $125.00 is a substantial price to pay for a short book of this nature. JOHN M. PETITTO Departments of Psychiatry, Pharmacology, and Neuroscience University of Florida College of Medicine Gainesville, Florida 32610-0256