Alcohol is the most widely used drug in the world, and its abuse poses a tremendous burden to society. Alcoholics are vulnerable to multiple health problems including dysfunction of the heart, liver, brain, and the immune system (Lieber, 1995;Cook, 1998). The lung is often overlooked as a target of alcohol abuse but is commonly affected, and several reviews have summarized the detriments of alcoholism in the lung including an increased susceptibility to pneumonia and acute lung injury (Joshi and Guidot, 2007;Guidot and Hart, 2005). Despite this awareness, the causative factors remain incompletely understood. Investigating these underlying mechanisms will hopefully identify novel therapies and limit the enormous morbidity and mortality associated with pulmonary disease in individuals with alcohol use disorders.
