MAIT cells: a novel therapeutic target for alcoholic liver disease?

Bacterial infection is one of the most frequent and severe complications of advanced alcoholic liver disease (ALD), including alcoholic cirrhosis and severe alcoholic hepatitis (SAH). Patients who suffered from SAH are susceptible to bacterial infection with one study reporting 50% of them developed bacterial infection.1 Additionally, standard corticosteroid treatment further increased the risk of bacterial infection in patients with SAH.1 Thus, infection is highly relevant for the outcome of SAH and represents an important therapeutic target. However, except antibiotic treatment, there are currently no other specific therapies that effectively control bacterial infection in SAH due to incomplete understanding of the pathogenesis of bacterial infection in these patients.

The mechanisms underlying the increased risk of bacterial infection in ALD are complex and multifactorial. The high incidence of bacterial infection may be partly explained by gut bacterial overgrowth, dysbiosis and translocation of gut bacteria and their products in patients with...

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