Enhanced spontaneous and induced secretion of the proinflammatory cytokine TNF-alpha by monocytes-macrophages from the blood of the patients presenting with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) is known to be associated with the accelerated development of atherosclerosis. The current concepts of atherosclerosis take into consideration the possible role of inflammation in its pathogenesis which theoretically implies the modification of macrophages in accordance with the proinflammatory phenotype and the production of the proinflammatory cytokine tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) by these cells. In connection with this, we undertook a study of spontaneous and induced secretion of proinflammatory cytokine TNF-α by monocytes-macrophages from the blood of 20 patients presenting with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (HbA1c - 8,9%) and the healthy volunteers showing up no disturbances of carbohydrate metabolism. It was shown that blood monocytes-macrophages of the patients presenting with DM2 are characterized by the enhanced ability (compared with the cells from the healthy subjects) to synthesize TNF-α in both native and interferon-y stimulated states up to 750 versus 270 pg/ml culture medium and to 1653 pg/ml versus 378 pg/ml culture respectively. This difference was statistically significant (p <0.05). It is concluded that the results of the study help to explain the elevated blood TNF-α level in the patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and provide an insight into the mechanism underlying the development of the systemic inflammatory reaction accelerating the progression of atherosclerosis associated with diabetes mellitus.

type 2 diabetes mellitus, atherozsclerosis, tumour necrosis factor-alpha, proinflammatory modification of macrophages

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