Cellular and molecular immunity in type 2 diabetic patients after COVID-19 recovery

People with type 2 diabetes and Covid-19 infection had altered and distinct immune characteristics from patients without Covid-19 infection, and they are at a higher risk of developing health complications or being treated in a critical care unit than people without diabetes are. On the other hand, clinical data so far suggests that the Covid-19 may result in metabolic dysregulation and impaired glucose homeostasis. In addition, emerging data on new onset of diabetes mellitus in previously infected with Covid-19 patients reinforces the hypothesis of a direct effect of Covid-19 on glucose metabolism. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of Covid-19 infection in patients live with type 2 diabetes mellitus during the recovery state on some cellular immune response and its affection on the expression of interleukin-1 β as an important proinflammatory cytokine. The study included 75 participants. The median age in total was 50 years old (ranged from 23 to 65 years) who visited Al-Wafaa Center for Diabetes and Endocrine Disease-Ibn-sina Hospital-Mosul/Iraq and enrolled in the study from 30 August 2021 to 10 November 2021. The 25 participants with type 2 diabetes mellitus who had recovered from Covid-19 infection (8-10 weeks after symptoms onset) made up 33.3% of the total participants and had a mean age of 43.5. The second is that 25 participants (33.3%, mean age: 42.7) were type 2 diabetes mellitus without Covid-19 infection and with no other comorbidities. The last group consisted of 25 (33.3% mean age; 27.5) healthy control individuals. Both groups of type 2 diabetic patients were using insulin injections regularly as the only medication (insulin-dependent) over 3 years. The study found that the glucose level was higher in the type 2 diabetes mellitus recovered group compared with non-infected type 2 diabetic patients (mean 12.08±5.18), (mean 10.12±4.84), respectively. In addition, alterations in cellular immune response (including WBC count, neutrophil, phagocytic activity of neutrophil, monocyte, and eosinophil) have seen compared with other study groups. While hemoglobin was lower in recovered patients (130.12±16.46) than type 2 diabetic mellitus and control (138.64±12.67) and (148.68±13.71), respectively. Furthermore, the results showed that interleukin-1 β expression in blood samples of the type 2 diabetes mellitus recovered group (28.1±0.6) was higher in comparison with type 2 diabetic patients without Covid-19 infection (23.8±0.8), and control (25.9±2.8).