Endocrine Abstracts

Content: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) may be associated with disorders in innate immune system. Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) is an important mediator of the innate immunity with subsequent proinflammatory reactions that thought to be involved in the cardiovascular complications in T2DM.

Objective: We evaluate the role of TLR2 in T2DM patients with cardiovascular complications.

Patients and methods: The study was conducted on 60 patients with T2DM recruited from Ain Shams University Diabetes clinic from November/2007 to May/2009 compared to 25 controls. Patients were further subdivided to Group-Ia:30 patients without cardiovascular complication and Group-Ib:30 patients known to have cardiovascular complications. Peripheral blood samples were taken for measurement of TLR2 expression by flowcytometry and hs-CRP by PCR. In addition to full clinical, anthropometric measures, Fasting and 2hrPP serum glucose level, HbA1_C and lipid profile evaluation.

Results: TLR2 expression and hs-CRP were significantly higher among T2DM patients compared to controls (P=0.00) and in Group Ib compared to Group Ia (P=0.00). Further, Group Ib had significantly higher diastolic blood pressure (P=0.01) and HbA1_c (P=0.01) with a lower HDL-c (P=0.02). Moreover, positive correlation detected between TLR2 expression and hs-CRP as well as they were correlated to systolic blood pressure, HbA1_c and BMI among diabetic patients.

Conclusion: Over expression of TLR2 and hs-CRP in T2DM with cardiovascular complications especially hypertensive and poorly controlled patients could reflect the inflammatory process. Measurement of TLR2 and hs-CRP could be a new marker for cardiovascular risk in T2DM. Future target therapy for TLRs can be a promising for T2DM patients.