Outside of the sepsis literature, studies showing that chronic alcohol exposure leads to downregulation of CD80/CD86 on APCs (49) in conjunction with our data showing differential CTLA-4 expression during chronic alcohol and sepsis in combination suggest that differences in the relative expression of CTLA-4, CD80/CD86, and CD28 between alcohol and water-fed mice may underlie unique responses between the two when these molecules are experimentally manipulated. The gene discussed is CD28; the disease is Sepsis.