BACKGROUND: Studies have suggested that type 2 diabetes (T2D) increases the risk of active pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) infection. T2D might exacerbate TB severity and adversely impact the treatment of TB patients by suppressing the immune response of TB. However, how the immune cell profiles are changed in Chinese TB patients with coincident of T2D compared with TB patients without T2D is still unclear.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: To explore the immune cell profile alteration in TB patients with T2D, we collected blood samples from 46 TB patients with or without T2D and measured the profiles of T cell subsets.

RESULTS: We found TB patients with coincident of T2D had higher percentages of Th2 and Th17 cells after TB antigens stimulation, while they had unchanged Th1 cells and decreased CD8+ cytotoxic T cells compared to TB patients without T2D. However, no significant difference in baseline percentages of these T cells subsets was observed.

CONCLUSIONS: T2D has important impacts on regulating anti-TB immunity by increasing Th2 and Th17 cell differentiation, but reducing the activity of CD8+ T cells. Our study supports the need to perform longitudinal studies to evaluate the roles of immunological interaction between T2D and TB in TB development.

Keywords: Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Immunity, Active, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, Receptors, Cytokine