Change and significance of CD4~+CD25~+FoxP3~+Treg in patients with type 2 diabetes before and after insulin intensive therapy

Objective To study the proportion of CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ regulatory T cell in patients with type 2 diabetes(T2DM) before and after insulin intensive therapy.Methods The propotion of CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ regulatory T cells was measured with flow cytometry in 46 T2DM cases before and after insulin intensive therapy and the relationship between that and other cytokines was analyzed.Results The propotion of CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ regulatory T cell and the amonts of CD3+T and CD4+T cells were significantly higher after treatment than those before(P0.05).The levels of C-reactive protein(C-RP) and tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α) were significantly lower after treatment than those before(P0.05).The proportion of CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ regulatory T cells was not significantly correlated with CD3+,CD4+,TNF-α,IL-6,HOMA-IR and HOMA-β.After 2 weeks of insulin treatment,the level of TNF-α was positively correlated with both HOMA-IR and HOMA-β(P0.05),while IL-6 negatively correlated with C-RP(P0.05).Conclusion The proportion of CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ regulatory T cells is increased in T2DM patients after insulin intensive therapy.Reduced level of Treg cells may be the result of hyperglycemia and a factor for the development and progress of T2DM as well.