Serum inflammatory molecules and markers of neuronal damage in alcohol-dependent subjects after withdrawal

Abstract

Objectives: Our aim is to describe changes in serum concentration for the pro-inflammatory factors TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-1β, IL-8, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12 and MCP-1, for the satiety factor leptin and for factors associated with neuronal changes, neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and glial activation S100-beta protein (S100-β), and explore their association with abstinence in alcohol-dependent subjects after withdrawal.

Methods: Serum sampling and clinical assessments from 115 alcohol-dependent subjects admitted to a psychiatric hospital for alcohol were repeated during the first 48 h of withdrawal (M0) and 1, 2, 4 and 6 months (M1, M2, M4 and M6) thereafter. Serum factors were determined with Luminex technology or by ELISA.

Results: The levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-8, IL-6, IL-12, MCP-1, and leptin decreased after withdrawal and remained low until M6, regardless of alcohol consumption. IFN-γ levels remained constant and IL-10 levels changed only slightly. NSE levels were not modified, whereas serum S100-β concentration increased significantly on M1 and then plateaued, regardless of abstinence status at 6 months.

Conclusions: Alcohol-dependent subjects present an inflammatory condition that is not dependent on alcohol consumption. An understanding of the changes in concentration of the various proteins considered here would provide insight into the physiology of withdrawal or dependence.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01491347.

Keywords:

• Inflammation
• alcohol use disorder
• withdrawal
• marker
• neuronal damages

Acknowledgements

The authors thank B Plansont, M Bouchareychas, and P Balestrat for the study organisation and the data collection (Unité de Recherche et de Neurostimulation, Centre Hospitalier Esquirol), and Aurore Desquesnes and Laurent Monbrun for Luminex experiments and explanations (Service Phénotypage, INSERM/UPS US006 - ANXPLO/CREFRE, Toulouse).

Statement of interest

None to declare.

Authors are all employed at the Esquirol Hospital Center.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by French Health and Solidarity Minister in the frame of the clinical research hospital programme 2011, the Institut Thématique Multi-Organismes Santé Publique from the Alliance Nationale Pour les Sciences de la Vie et de la Santé organism (AVIESAN), and the Esquirol Hospital Center of Limoges, France.