Apoptosis of blood mononuclear cells in alcoholic liver cirrhosis

Thirty micromolar zinc supplementation inhibited both spontaneous and ethanol-induced apoptosis of immune cells derived from the blood of the healthy control and cirrhotic patients. In sera of patients with cirrhosis, an elevated level of IL-12, but also sFas (CD95) and sFas ligand (sFasL) was detected. Moreover, in vitro, PBMCs of cirrhotic patients spontaneously released more sFas and sFasL than control PBMCs. Ethanol treatment significantly increased sFas, but decreased sFasL release from PBMCs of cirrhotic patients, while it only slightly affected control cells. As zinc supplementation did not significantly influence sFas or sFasL release, it seems likely that it is rather the mitochondrial pathway of ethanol-related immune cell death that may be inhibited by zinc supplementation.