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Characterization of IL-17-producing Treg cells in type 2 diabetes patients

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Abstract

The association between type 2 diabetes (T2D) pathogenesis and immune-mediated tissue damage and insulin resistance suggests that T2D patients might benefit from the suppression of pathogenic inflammation. Foxp3+ Treg cells are crucial suppressors of inflammation, but the differentiation of Foxp3+ Treg cells is not static and is subject to conversion into IL-17-producing Th17-like cells upon receiving external signals. In this study, we examined the production of IL-17 by Treg cells. Compared to non-T2D controls, T2D patients presented significantly higher levels of IL-17-expressing cells in both Foxp3− CD4 T cells and Foxp3+ Treg cells. The frequencies of IL-17-nonexpressing Foxp3+ Treg cells, on the other hand, were not changed. Interestingly, IL-17-expressing Foxp3+ Treg cells were mutually exclusive from IL-10-expressing and TGF-β-expressing Foxp3+ Treg cells, suggesting that multiple subpopulations exist within the Foxp3+ Treg cells from T2D patients. In T2D patients, the frequencies of IL-17-expressing Foxp3+ Treg cells were positively correlated with the body mass index (BMI) and the HbA1c levels of T2D patients. The frequencies of IL-10-expressing Treg cells, on the other hand, were inversely associated with the BMI of both non-T2D controls and T2D patients. In addition, the suppressive activity of Treg cells was significantly lower in T2D patients than in non-T2D controls. Together, our study uncovered a dysregulation in Foxp3+ Treg cells from T2D patients, characterized by high IL-17 expression and low suppression activity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Endocrinology, Shandong Provincial Third Hospital, 11 Wuyingshan Middle Road, Jinan, Shandong, China

    Lei Zhu & Li Zhang

  2. DICAT Biomedical Computation Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    Haihan Song

  3. Department of Cardiology, Shandong Provincial Third Hospital, 11 Wuyingshan Middle Road, Jinan, Shandong, China

    Haiyan Meng

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  1. Lei Zhu
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Correspondence to Lei Zhu or Haiyan Meng.

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Zhu, L., Song, H., Zhang, L. et al. Characterization of IL-17-producing Treg cells in type 2 diabetes patients. Immunol Res 67, 443–449 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12026-019-09095-7

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