Mediators of Inflammation
Volume 2006 (2006), Article ID 39062, 7 pages
doi:10.1155/MI/2006/39062
Research Communication

Evaluation of Tumour Necrosis Factor Alpha, Interleukin-2 Soluble Receptor, Nitric Oxide Metabolites, and Lipids as Inflammatory Markers in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Flávia Ozorio Pereira,1 Tânia Silvia Frode,2 and Yara Santos Medeiros1,3

1Diabetes Unit, Governador Celso Ramos Hospital, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina 88020-30, Brazil
2Department of Clinical Analysis, Sciences, and Health Center, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina 88040-970, Brazil
3Department of Pharmacology, Center of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina 88049-900, Brazil

Received 25 August 2005; Accepted 13 October 2005

Copyright © 2006 Flávia Ozorio Pereira et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

This study compared the results of tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-2 soluble receptor (sIL-2R), nitric oxide metabolites (NOx), C-reactive protein (CRP), and lipids (total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL-cholesterol), low-density lipoprotein (LDL-cholesterol), and triglycerides) between control group (nondiabetic subjects) and overweight type 2 DM subjects. To restrict the influence of variables that could interfere in the interpretation of data, subjects with obesity and/or acute or chronic inflammatory disease, haemoglobinopathies, recent use of antibiotics, antiinflammatory drugs, and trauma were excluded. Type 2 DM patients (n=39; age 53.3±9.0 years; median glycated haemoglobin A1c<8%) presented higher levels of TNF-α, triglycerides (P<.01), NOx and sIL-2R (P<.05) than control group (n=28; age 39.7±14.1 years). CRP, LDL-cholesterol, total cholesterol, and HDL-cholesterol did not differ among groups. Diabetic women (n=21) had higher levels of TNF-α, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and HDL-cholesterol than diabetic men (n=18) (P<.05), but there were no differences among sexes in the control group. This study indicates that increased level of proinflammatory markers occurs in type 2 DM even in the absence of obesity and marked hyperglycaemia, confirming that the inflammation course of the atherosclerotic process is more severe in diabetic patients than in nondiabetic subjects.