Small RNA transcriptome of ethanol consuming male macaques on day 7 post MVA vaccination

Several lines of evidence indicate that chronic alcohol use disorder leads to increased susceptibility to several viral and bacterial infections whereas moderate alcohol consumption decreases incidence of colds and improves immune responses to some pathogens. In line with these observations, we recently showed that heavy ethanol intake (average blood ethanol concentrations (BECs) >80 mg/dl) suppressed, whereas moderate alcohol consumption (BEC <50 mg/dl) enhanced T and B-cell responses to MVA vaccination in a nonhuman primate model of voluntary ethanol consumption. To uncover the molecular basis for impaired immunity with heavy alcohol consumption and enhanced immune response with moderate alcohol consumption, we performed a transcriptome analysis using PBMCs isolated on day 7 post-MVA vaccination, the earliest time point at which we detected differences in T-cell and antibody responses. Overall, chronic heavy alcohol consumption reduced expression of immune genes involved in response to infection and wound healing, and increased expression of genes associated with the development of lung inflammatory disease and cancer. In contrast, chronic moderate alcohol consumption upregulated expression of genes involved in immune response and reduced expression of genes involved in cancer. In order to uncover mechanisms underlying the alteration in PBMC transcriptomes, we also examined changes in microRNA expression. Our analysis showed that chronic heavy ethanol consumption led to the upregulation of several microRNAs whose targets were differentially expressed in our dataset.