Immunophenotype of blood lymphocytes in patients with type 2 diabetes and normal body weight and obesity

Background. Determination of the blood lymphocyte immunophenotype is one of the key indicators of the immune function in a diseased person. However, the studies of the lymphocyte immunophenotyping in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D), with the most frequent complication of this disease — overweight/obesity, are rare and controversial. The purpose of study was to determine immunophenotype of blood lymphocytes (CD3+ T, CD4+ T, CD8+ T, CD20+ and CD56+ cells) in patients with newly diagnosed T2D and different body mass index (BMI). Materials and methods. There were examined 78 patients with newly diagnosed T2D and 40 normoglycemic individuals, who were divided into 4 subgroups, depending on the BMI. The blood lymphocyte immunophenotyping was carried out by the flow cytometry using a FACStar Plus laser cytofluorimeter and a panel of monoclonal antibodies to membrane antigens of lymphocytes. Results. The entire group of patients with T2D is characterized by a small but significant (p 35.0 kg/m2, it was found that in subgroup 1, the absolute number of CD3+ T, CD4+ T, CD8+ T, CD20+ and CD56+ cells was close to those in normoglycemic individuals. Patients of subgroup 2 showed a significant increase in the absolute number of CD4+ T cells by 12.5 % (p