• Maria Cristina Foss-Freitas, Norma Tiraboschi Foss, Eduardo Antonio Donadi, and Milton Cesar Foss.
• Department of Medicine, Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil.
• Sao Paulo Med J. 2006 Jul 6; 124 (4): 219222219-22.

Context And ObjectiveDiabetes mellitus is a clinical syndrome that frequently leads to the development of chronic complications and high susceptibility to infections. It is probably due to defective immunological defense, which may be related to metabolic control of the disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of metabolic control on immune-cell behavior in type 1 and type 2 diabetic patients. For this, the in vitro proliferation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) was analyzed in patients with inadequate and adequate metabolic control.Design And SettingExperimental/laboratory study at a university hospital.MethodsEleven type 1 and thirteen type 2 diabetic patients were studied, together with 21 healthy individuals divided in two groups (11/10), who were matched by sex and age with those diabetic patients. PBMC cultures stimulated with concanavalin-A (Con-A) were used to measure 3H-thymidine incorporation after 72 hours of cell culturing. For patients with inadequate metabolic control, culturing was performed on the first day of patient hospitalization and again after intensive treatment to achieve adequate control.ResultsThe proliferation index for Con-A-stimulated cultures from type 1 diabetic patients was significantly greater than that for cultures from healthy individuals and type 2 diabetic patients, independent of metabolic control. A negative correlation between the proliferation cell index and body mass index and serum C-reactive protein levels was also observed.ConclusionThe increase in the proliferation capacity of type 1 diabetic T lymphocytes was probably not caused by hyperglycemia and/or insulinopenia related to inadequate metabolic control.

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