
Daniel Engelbertsen
Assistant researcher

Elevated circulating effector memory T cells but similar levels of regulatory T cells in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease
Author
Summary, in English
Type 2 diabetes mellitus is associated with an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease, but the mechanism through which diabetes contributes to cardiovascular disease development remains incompletely understood. In this study, we compared the association of circulating regulatory T cells, naïve T cells, effector memory T cells or central memory T cells with cardiovascular disease in patients with and without type 2 diabetes mellitus. Percentage of circulating T cell subsets was analysed by flow cytometry in type 2 diabetes mellitus subjects with and without prevalent cardiovascular disease as well as in non-diabetic subjects with and without prevalent cardiovascular disease from the Malmö SUMMIT cohort. Subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus had elevated percentages of effector memory T cells (CD4+CD45RO+CD62L–; 21.8% ± 11.2% vs 17.0% ± 9.2% in non-type 2 diabetes mellitus, p < 0.01) and central memory T cells (CD4+CD45RO+CD62L+; 38.0% ± 10.7% vs 36.0% ± 9.5% in non-type 2 diabetes mellitus, p < 0.01). In contrast, the frequency of naïve T cells was reduced (CD4+CD45RO–CD62L+, 35.0% ± 16.5% vs 42.9% ± 14.4% in non-type 2 diabetes mellitus, p < 0.001). The proportion of effector memory T cells was increased in type 2 diabetes mellitus subjects with cardiovascular disease as compared to those without (26.4% ± 11.5% vs 18.4% ± 10.2%, p < 0.05), while no difference in regulatory T cells was observed between these two patient groups. This study identifies effector memory T cells as a potential cellular biomarker for cardiovascular disease among subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus, suggesting a state of exacerbated immune activation in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with cardiovascular disease.
Department/s
- Cardiovascular Research - Immunity and Atherosclerosis
- EXODIAB: Excellence of Diabetes Research in Sweden
- EpiHealth: Epidemiology for Health
- Internal Medicine - Epidemiology
- Cardiovascular Research - Matrix and Inflammation in Atherosclerosis
- Cardiovascular Research - Cellular Metabolism and Inflammation
Publishing year
2019
Language
English
Pages
270-280
Publication/Series
Diabetes and Vascular Disease Research
Volume
16
Issue
3
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Topic
- Cardiac and Cardiovascular Systems
- Endocrinology and Diabetes
Keywords
- adaptive immunity
- cardiovascular disease
- memory T cells
- regulatory T cells
- Type 2 diabetes
Status
Published
Research group
- Cardiovascular Research - Immunity and Atherosclerosis
- Internal Medicine - Epidemiology
- Cardiovascular Research - Matrix and Inflammation in Atherosclerosis
- Cardiovascular Research - Cellular Metabolism and Inflammation
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1479-1641