- Zeng, Suling;
- Rosati, Elisa;
- Saggau, Carina;
- Messner, Berith;
- Chu, Huikuan;
- Duan, Yi;
- Hartmann, Phillipp;
- Wang, Yanhan;
- Ma, Shengyun;
- Huang, Wendy;
- Lee, Jihyung;
- Lee, Sung;
- Carvalho-Gontijo, Raquel;
- Zhang, Vivian;
- Hoffmann, Joseph;
- Kolls, Jay;
- Raz, Eyal;
- Brenner, David;
- Kisseleva, Tatiana;
- LeibundGut-Landmann, Salomé;
- Bacher, Petra;
- Stärkel, Peter;
- Schnabl, Bernd
Alcohol-associated liver disease is accompanied by intestinal mycobiome dysbiosis, yet the impacts on liver disease are unclear. We demonstrate that Candida albicans-specific T helper 17 (Th17) cells are increased in circulation and present in the liver of patients with alcohol-associated liver disease. Chronic ethanol administration in mice causes migration of Candida albicans (C. albicans)-reactive Th17 cells from the intestine to the liver. The antifungal agent nystatin decreased C. albicans-specific Th17 cells in the liver and reduced ethanol-induced liver disease in mice. Transgenic mice expressing T cell receptors (TCRs) reactive to Candida antigens developed more severe ethanol-induced liver disease than transgene-negative littermates. Adoptively transferring Candida-specific TCR transgenic T cells or polyclonal C. albicans-primed T cells exacerbated ethanol-induced liver disease in wild-type mice. Interleukin-17 (IL-17) receptor A signaling in Kupffer cells was required for the effects of polyclonal C. albicans-primed T cells. Our findings indicate that ethanol increases C. albicans-specific Th17 cells, which contribute to alcohol-associated liver disease.