Role of interleukin-2 and interleukin-18 in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus.

OBJECTIVES

The study aimed to compare the levels of anti-inflammatory interleukin-2 (IL-2) and proinflammatory interleukin-18 (IL-18) among newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and nondiabetic volunteers, to predict their roles as markers in the diagnosis of newly diagnosed T2DM.

METHODS

In the study, 60 subjects were enrolled (30 T2DM cases and 30 non-diabetic controls). Biochemical parameters such as fasting plasma glucose (FBS), glycated haemoglobin (HbA), high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and lipid profile were estimated in auto-analyser. Serum IL-2 and IL-18 levels were assessed by enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA).

RESULTS

Significant differences were observed in the levels of interleukins among study groups. The median (95% confidence interval) of IL-2 in cases and controls were 8.55 (6.07-47.23) and 45.87 (12.81-145.4) (p=0.02). The median (95% CI) of IL-18 on the other hand in cases and controls were 691.6 (580.3-872.6) and 511.1 (452.6-557.5) (p=0.0014).

CONCLUSIONS

Our study is the first to correlate IL-2 and IL-18 in newly diagnosed T2DM patients. Findings from this study highlight the anti-inflammatory role of IL-2 and proinflammatory role of IL-18 in T2DM. ROC analysis helped predict their role as markers in T2DM diagnosis.