Macrophage migration inhibitory factor: New insights into the pathogenesis of alcoholic liver disease.
Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is characterized by pathological changes that occur along a continuum that extends from liver injury to fibrosis and, finally, to hepatocellular carcinoma. Inflammatory cytokines and chemokines have long been implicated in this process (Gao et al., 2019), with many cell types involved, including macrophages, monocytes and other cell types in the innate and adaptive immune systems. Specifically, macrophages and neutrophils in the liver are important for clearing pathogens, including bacteria, viruses, immune complexes, bacterial products and tumor cells (Ju and Mandrekar, 2015).