Influence of blood glucose levels on peripheral lymphocytes in patients with diabetes mellitus.

Abnormalities in lymphocyte subpopulations in patients with type 1 diabetes have been reported previously. To evaluate the effect of blood glucose levels on peripheral lymphocyte concentrations we studied the proportion and phenotypic composition of the T-cell population in 7 patients with type 1 and in 12 patients with type 2 diabetes at hospitalization because of metabolic dysregulation and in a period of restored control. Both the number of CD-4 and CD-8 positive cells increased significantly (p < 0.05), although no change in the CD-4:CD-8 ratio was observed. After restoring metabolic control there was a significant rise in the mean number of total lymphocytes (1760 +/- 759 x 10(6)/ml vs 2385 +/- 889 x 10(6)/ml, p < 0.05). The number of total lymphocytes increased in all patients but one. It is concluded that metabolic control can influence immunological parameters such as numbers of peripheral lymphocytes of various phenotypes.