Evaluation of immune cells profile in patients with gestational diabetes

Abstract

Gestational Diabetes (GD) the most frequent metabolic disorder in pregnancy, is defined as glucose intolerance that appears during pregnancy and affects between 1-25% of all pregnant women, according to the population characteristics and the diagnosis criteria used. Although low grade inflammation and insulin resistance (IR) are part of the physiologic adaptative phenomena of normal pregnancies, in GD women these two processes seem to be exacerbated. In addition to hormonal factors, other immune cells such as NK cells, T lymphocytes, NKT cells and their subsets play a central role in the induction and modulation of these processes. The aim of this study is to characterize the profile of immune cells in peripheral blood of women with GD during the third trimester of pregnancy. Therefore, we intend to evaluate TCD4+, TCD8+, Tregulatory (Treg), NKT lymphocytes, NK cells and their subpopulations. In addition, we aim to analyze the mRNA expression of IL -10, TGF-B, TNF-A. IL- 6, CCL17 and CCL21, in Treg cells , and the expression of mRNA of cytokines IFN-g , TNF-A, perforin, granzyme, CXCL9, CXCL10, CXCL11, CXCL12, XCL1 and CX3CL1 in NK cells. Our hypothesis is that pregnant women with GD exhibit impaired immune cell profile and cytokines production, and that these disorders may be related to the pattern of IR and inflammation, and ultimately to the clinical pattern of the disease. The findings of this study can contribute to the understanding of the pathophysiology of the DG, and thus enable the definition of parameters for more effective diagnosis and characterization of disease. (AU)