Among those up-regulated genes, we found significant changes in CLEC7A in high-PRS microglial cells at both the transcript and protein levels following exposure to ethanol. CLEC7A is a receptor located on the surface of microglial cells, which plays a crucial role in the immune response by detecting Zymosan, a type of fungal β glucan, and subsequently initiating the phagocytic process in microglia (52, 70, 71). This heightened CLEC7A expression in high-PRS microglial cells may partially explain the increased phagocytic activity following exposure to ethanol. In addition, studies have identified CLEC7A as a prominent member of the disease-associated microglia genes (72), consistently showing elevated expression by microglia in diverse mouse models of neurodegeneration, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD) models (73, 74). Thus, our observation may also suggest a potential connection between the elevated CLEC7A in high-PRS microglial cells and AUD-related dementia. In a recent study, they observed notable differences in the expression of genes associated with human AD among AD mice with various genetic backgrounds. Specifically, the B6.APP/PS1 and WSB.APP/PS1 strains displayed higher expression levels for the gene CLEC7A, while the CAST
