title: Pulmonary inflammation after ethanol exposure and burn injury is attenuated in the absence of IL-6.
abstract: Alcohol consumption leads to an exaggerated inflammatory response after burn injury. Elevated levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in patients are associated with increased morbidity and mortality after injury, and high systemic and pulmonary levels of IL-6 have been observed after the combined insult of ethanol exposure and burn injury. To further investigate the role of IL-6 in the pulmonary inflammatory response, we examined leukocyte infiltration and cytokine and chemokine production in the lungs of wild-type and IL-6 knockout mice given vehicle or ethanol (1.11 g/kg) and subjected to a sham or 15% total body surface area burn injury. Levels of neutrophil infiltration and neutrophil chemoattractants were increased to a similar extent in wild-type and IL-6 knockout mice 24 h after burn injury. When ethanol exposure preceded the burn injury, however, a further increase of these inflammatory markers was seen only in the wild-type mice. Additionally, signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 (STAT3) phosphorylation did not increase in response to ethanol exposure in the IL-6 knockout mice, in contrast to their wild-type counterparts. Visual and imaging analysis of alveolar wall thickness supported these findings and similar results were obtained by blocking IL-6 with antibody. Taken together, our data suggest a causal relationship between IL-6 and the excessive pulmonary inflammation observed after the combined insult of ethanol and burn injury.
authors: Burn and Shock Trauma Institute, Loyola University Chicago Health Sciences Division, Maywood, IL 60153, USA.
authors: Michael M
authors: MM
authors: Chen
authors: Melanie D
authors: MD
authors: Bird
authors: Anita
authors: A
authors: Zahs
authors: Cory
authors: C
authors: Deburghgraeve
authors: Bartlomiej
authors: B
authors: Posnik
authors: Christopher S
authors: CS
authors: Davis
authors: Elizabeth J
authors: EJ
authors: Kovacs
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D000818:Animals; D002056:Burns / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D000431:Ethanol / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000172:deficiency*; D008168:Lung / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control
chemical_list: D015850:Interleukin-6; D000431:Ethanol