The effect of short-term intensive insulin therapy on circulating T cell subpopulations in patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus

Abstract Aims To evaluate the effect of short-term intensive insulin therapy on circulating T cell subpopulations in patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods A total of 113 patients with T2DM and 28 normal subjects were enrolled. Demographic parameters and biochemical markers were collected at baseline, and flow cytometry was applied to determine the proportion of T cell subpopulations in participants. Then the patients underwent continuous subcutaneous insulin injection (CSII) treatment with euglycemia for 2 weeks, and the T cell subpopulations were measured again after CSII treatment. Results Compared with normal subjects, the proportion of Th1 cells and the ratio of Th1/Th2 increased, the proportion of Treg cells decreased in patients with T2DM (p  Conclusions Short-term intensive insulin therapy could modulate circulating T cell subpopulations in patients with T2DM, which might alleviate inflammatory responses caused by hyperglycemia. This study was registered with ChiCTR-OPN-17010405.