AUTHOR=Kazmi Narjis , Wallen Gwenyth R. , Yang Li , Alkhatib Jenna , Schwandt Melanie L. , Feng Dechun , Gao Bin , Diazgranados Nancy , Ramchandani Vijay A. , Barb Jennifer J. 

TITLE=An exploratory study of pro-inflammatory cytokines in individuals with alcohol use disorder: MCP-1 and IL-8 associated with alcohol consumption, sleep quality, anxiety, depression, and liver biomarkers

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.931280

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2022.931280

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Background</title><p>High levels of sleep disturbances reported among individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD) can stimulate inflammatory gene expression, and in turn, may alter pro-inflammatory cytokines levels. We aimed to investigate associations between pro-inflammatory cytokine markers with subjective measures of sleep quality, psychological variables and alcohol consumption among individuals with AUD.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>This exploratory study is comprised of individuals with AUD (<italic>n</italic> = 50) and healthy volunteers (<italic>n</italic> = 14). Spearman correlation was used to investigate correlations between plasma cytokine levels and clinical variables of interest (liver and inflammatory markers, sleep quality, patient reported anxiety/depression scores, and presence of mood and/or anxiety disorders (DSM IV/5); and history of alcohol use variables.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>The AUD group was significantly older, with poorer sleep quality, higher anxiety/depression scores, and higher average drinks per day as compared to controls. Within the AUD group, IL-8 and MCP-1 had positive significant correlations with sleep, anxiety, depression and drinking variables. Specifically, higher levels of MCP-1 were associated with poorer sleep (<italic>p</italic> = 0.004), higher scores of anxiety (<italic>p</italic> = 0.006) and depression (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001), and higher number of drinking days (<italic>p</italic> = 0.002), average drinks per day (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001), heavy drinking days (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001) and total number of drinks (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001). The multiple linear regression model for MCP-1 showed that after controlling for sleep status and heavy drinking days, older participants (<italic>p</italic> = 0.003) with more drinks per day (<italic>p</italic> = 0.016), and higher alkaline phosphatase level (<italic>p</italic> = 0.001) had higher MCP-1 level.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>This exploratory analysis revealed associations with cytokines MCP-1 and IL-8 and drinking consumption, sleep quality, and anxiety and depression in the AUD group. Furthermore, inflammatory and liver markers were highly correlated with certain pro-inflammatory cytokines in the AUD group suggesting a possible relationship between chronic alcohol use and inflammation. These associations may contribute to prolonged inflammatory responses and potentially higher risk of co-morbid chronic diseases.</p></sec>