Correlation between type 2 diabetes with insulin resistance and cytokines

AIM: To study the correlation between type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) with insulin resistance and plasma cytokines. METHODS: Fasting serum levels of IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α were measured in 30 cases of T2DM with insulin resistance (group A) and 30 cases of T2DM without insulin resistance (group B) and 26 normal control subjects (group C) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Simultaneously the levels of fasting plasma glucose (FPG), glucose hemoglobin A1C (GHbA1c) and fasting insulin (FINS) were detacted for analyzing the relations between the levels of FPG, GHbA1c, FINS and IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α. RESULTS: The serum levels of IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α in group A and B were significantly higher than ones in group C (P0.05), and the levels of IL-6 and TNF-α in group A were significantly increased as compared with those in group B (P0.05). CONCLUSION: There is an excessive activation of cytokines in T2DM, which is significantly correlated with insulin resistance. Cytokines play an important role in the occurrence and development of T2DM and insulin resistance.