Author(s): Chunhua Chen, Yebo Shao1, Xiuling Wu, Cheng Huang and Weiqi Lu
Interleukin (IL)-17 is a newly described T cell-derived inflammatory cytokine. Recent studies have shown that inflammatory cytokines play important roles in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). However, whether IL-17 plays a prominent role in type 2 DM remains unclear. Here we measured serum concentrations of IL-17, and mRNA expression of IL-17 and its transcription factor RORγt in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 30 patients with newly diagnosed type 2 DM and 20 healthy subjects. Results have shown that serum levels of IL-17 were significantly higher in patients than in healthy subjects (10.44 ± 6.47 vs. 2.99 ± 1.68 pg/mL, P<0.01); and mRNA levels of IL-17 and its transcript factor RORγt were also upregulated in PBMC from patients (P<0.001). Further, IL-17 mRNA expression was correlated with TNF-α mRNA expression in PBMC from patients (r=0.6988, P<0.001). These results indicated that IL-17 might contribute to the inflammation process in type 2 diabetes as an inflammation factor.
