Metabolic state does not influence lymphocyte subsets in type 1 diabetic patients.
In most studies the distribution of peripheral lymphocyte subsets at diagnosis of type 1 diabetes has been found to be altered. Lymphocyte subpopulations were therefore studied during longitudinal changes in the glycaemic control of 11 type 1 diabetics to investigate whether poor metabolic status affects these results. To avoid any influence of the etiopathogenetic mechanisms, the patients studied had a disease duration of 10 +/- 2 (SEM) years and all but one had no residual beta-cell function. The patients were selected randomly amongst those with a long record of poor glycaemic control and at the first examination they had a mean fasting blood glucose of 15 +/- 1 mmol/l and a mean glucosuria of 67 +/- 11 g/24 h. They were then hospitalized and strictly regulated using pump treatment, resulting in a massive reduction in glucosuria (0 +/- 0 g/24 h) and fasting blood glucose (6 +/- 1 mmol/l) at a second examination a week later. Five of the patients were tested for a third time 35 +/- 4 days later and were still in very good glycaemic control. Peripheral lymphocytes were labelled with monoclonal antibodies and examined by flow cytometry (FACS). Neither CD3+ (pan) T-lymphocytes, CD4+ (helper) T-cells, CD8+ (suppressor/cytotoxic) T-cells, the relation between CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells, nor the total amount of lymphocytes, changed significantly between the first, second, and third examination. None of the results were significantly different from those of healthy controls. There was no correlation between any of the immunological and metabolic parameters. It is concluded that metabolic influence on the distribution of lymphocyte subsets is unlikely.