[Relationship between CD4+ CD28null T cell and atherosclerosis progression in patients with type 2 diabetes]

To explore the effect of CD4+ CD28null T cell on occurrence and progression of atherosclerosis in patients with type 2 diabetes.

A total of 188 patients who were diagnosed as type 2 diabetes in the department of endocrinology were selected in this study.The carotid atherosclerosis was detected using color Doppler ultrasound.The patients with intima-media thickness>1.1 mm or plaques were classified as the carotid atherosclerosis group (95 cases), the others were classified as the control group (93 cases). According to the intima-media thickening and plaques, carotid atherosclerosis group was divided into three subgroups: the thickening group (30 cases), the plaque group (28 cases) and the thickening+plaque group (37 cases). Percentage of CD4+ CD28null T cell in peripheral blood was detected using a flow cytometry, and thus compared and analyzed between the carotid atherosclerosis group and the control group.The relationships between percentage of CD4+ CD28null T cell and age, C-reactive protein (CRP), blood sugar, blood lipids, the body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, hip circumference, diastolic blood pressure, systolic blood pressure and other data were also analyzed.

Percentage of CD4+ CD28null T cell of the carotid atherosclerosis group was significantly higher than that of the control group (4.07%±3.21% vs 2.99%±2.34%, P<0.01). Percentage of CD4+ CD28null T cell of the thickening+ plaque group was higher than that of the plaque group and thickening group (both P<0.05), and percentage of CD4+ CD28null T cell of the plaque group was higher than the thickening group (P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis indicated that CRP, FPG and percentage of CD4+ CD28null T cell were the independent risk factors of atherosclerosis in patients with type 2 diabetes.Furthermore, multiple linear regression analysis showed that percentage of CD4+ CD28null T cell was linear correlated to CRP (P<0.01).

The type 2 diabetes patients with atherosclerosis had a higher percentage of CD4+ CD28null T cell, which was increased with the atherosclerosis progression.CD4+ CD28null T cell may affect arterial intimal thickening and plaque formation via mediating inflammatory response in the patients with type 2 diabetes.