Chronic Heavy Alcohol Use is Associated with Upregulated Paneth Cell Antimicrobials in Gastric Mucosa.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

How alcohol consumption affects the integrity and the defense mechanisms of the mucosa in the upper gastrointestinal tract is largely unknown. We examined the effect of heavy alcohol use on gastric and duodenal Paneth-cell-derived and epithelial antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), cytokines, and the Wnt pathway, an important regulator of epithelial regeneration.

Methods

In 22 patients with heavy alcohol use and 17 control subjects, biopsies from gastric corpus, antrum, and duodenum were examined for messenger RNA (mRNA) of AMPs, cytokines, and Wnt pathway factors using real-time PCR. The expression of the α-defensin HD5 was analyzed immunohistochemically. The effect of alcohol exposure on Wnt signaling and AMP production was also studied in a gastric cell line using mR

SUBMITTER: Ostaff MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4816256 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature