The harmful use of alcohol is one of the leading risk factors for health concerns and has contributed significantly to morbidity and mortality worldwide. According to recent surveys, there is a worrisome trend of increased alcohol consumption, especially during this challenging time of social distancing and novel stressors during the pandemic. There is ample evidence to suggest that excessive drinking both in the form of heavy drinking or binge alcohol intoxication can lead to severe complications including acute gastrointestinal injury, intestinal dysbiosis, alcoholic liver disease, metabolic dysregulation, cardiovascular dysfunction, lung injury and respiratory distress syndrome, alteration of immune responses, neuroinflammation, as well deficits in motivation and reward systems. Moreover, excessive alcohol consumption is associated with increased risk for mouth and oropharyngeal cancer, as well as breast and liver cancer.

Alcohol consumption can also alter the gut microbiota. Alcohol-mediated changes of intestinal barrier function facilitate the translocation of bacteria-derived substances from the intestinal lumen to the portal and systemic circulation provoking inflammatory response in different organs that further amplify distant organ damage in alcohol-dependent subjects. Furthermore, alcohol-induced cell death directly activates endogenous damage-associated molecular pattern recognition signaling resulting in the generation of inflammatory cytokines and/or other mediators leading to a complex disease phenotype and severe outcomes.
This Research Topic aims to feature novel findings in the field of alcohol research focusing on the detrimental and complex effects of alcohol misuse often resulting in multi-organ dysfunction or failure. Also, this article collection will highlight novel cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the multi-directional characteristics of communication between distant organs in the context of alcohol use and misuse. Basic research as well as translational studies uncovering novel mechanisms of alcohol-associated multi-organ pathology and altered crosstalk between different organs and systems are warmly welcome.

This Research Topic welcomes review papers and original research on the following themes but is not limited to them:

• Intestinal dysbiosis and the role of intestinal barrier dysfunction in alcohol misuse.
• Pathogenesis of organ dysfunction in excessive alcohol drinking.
• Altered communication between distant organs in alcohol misuse: focus on inflammatory cytokines or lipid mediators.
• Heavy alcohol drinking-induced multi-organ damage.

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Frontiers in Physiology

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