Abnormalities in BEP neuronal function are correlated with a higher incidence of cancers and infections in patients with schizophrenia, depression, and fetal alcohol syndrome and in obese patients (Bernstein et al. 2002; Lissoni et al. 1987; Polanco et al. 2010; Zangen et al. 2002). Interestingly, BEP-cell transplantation in the hypothalamus suppresses various cancers in rat models by activating innate immune-cell functions and altering inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokine milieus (Sarkar et al. 2008). In this setting, chronic alcohol use suppresses BEP neuronal activity and is connected with increased infection rates and higher incidence of cancer. Thus, alcohol and stress seem to paralyze adaptive innate immune functions by inducing complex changes in NK cells and other adaptive immune signaling that in the brain primarily involves microglial–astrocyte–neuronal HMGB1–TLR signaling.
