ewline"> Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1D) is a T cell-mediated autoimmune disease
and is one of the most frequent chronic diseases of children and young
adults. It results from immune-mediated destruction of the insulin-producing
pancreatic beta cells. Aim of the work: This study aims to establish the
phenotypic characteristics of various lymphocyte populations in type1
Diabetes Mellitus and try to correlate between the lymphocyte populations,
patients’ age and duration of the disease. Patients and Methods: The study
included 30 children with type 1 Diabetes and 20 healthy control children
who were tested for peripheral blood lymphocytes using flow- cytometry.
The percentages of total T-lymphocytes, B-lymphocytes, helper T cells,
cytotoxic T cells, activated T lymphocytes, regulatory T cells and natural
killer cells were evaluated with the use of CD3, CD19, CD4, CD8, CD25,
CD127, HLA-DR and CD56 monoclonal antibodies, respectively. Results:
No significant difference was found in the percentage of different
lymphocyte subpopulations in diabetic patients and controls except for Tregulatory cells that decreased significantly in patients (2.28 ± 0.37) when
compared to healthy controls (3.12 ± 0.34), with a p value of 0.045 and
activated cytotoxic T cells that increased significantly in diabetic patients
(11.17 ± 0.73) in comparison to healthy controls (8.67 ± 1.06) with a p value
of 0.02. In addition, no correlations of lymphocyte populations with patients’
age and duration of the disease were found except for natural killer cells that
showed significant negative correlation.
Conclusion: The differences detected in some lymphocyte subpopulations
support the role of cellular autoimmune mechanisms in the pathogenesis of
the disease