Summary of the 2014 Alcohol and Immunology Research Interest Group (AIRIG) meeting

On November 21, 2014 the 19th annual Alcohol and Immunology Research Interest Group (AIRIG) meeting was held at Loyola University Chicago Health Sciences Campus in Maywood, Illinois. The meeting focused broadly on inflammatory cell signaling responses in the context of alcohol and alcohol-use disorders, and was divided into four plenary sessions focusing on the gut and liver, lung infections, general systemic effects of alcohol, and neuro-inflammation. One common theme among many talks was the differential roles of macrophages following both chronic and acute alcohol intoxication. Macrophages were shown to play significant roles in regulating inflammation, oxidative stress, and viral infection following alcohol exposure in the liver, lungs, adipose tissue, and brain. Other work examined the role of alcohol on disease progression in a variety of pathologies including psoriasis, advanced stage lung disease, and cancer.