contribute to systemic inflammation in AUD (de Timary et al., 2017). Similar findings have been observed in nonhuman primate models of AUD. In primates exposed to chronic ethanol, changes in immune homeostasis in peripheral blood and intestinal mucosa may be partly mediated by ethanol-induced up-regulation in miRNA expression, including miR181a and miR221 in peripheral blood, and miR-155 in colon (Asquith et al., 2014). Transcriptome analysis of peripheral blood from chronic heavy alcohol consuming female macaques identified innate-immune related genes with altered expression (Sureshchandra et al., 2016). Male macaques chronically consuming ethanol showed changes in gene expression related to metabolism and inflammation in different areas of the gut, and 16S rRNA gene sequencing of the gut revealed shifts in relative abundance of putatively beneficial vs. inflammation-associated bacterial populations (Barr et al., 2018). Thus, alcohol-induced peripheral immune dysregulation is a core characteristic of AUD and its associated pathologies.
