CORRELATION OF TOLL-LIKE RECEPTOR 4 AND TUMOUR NECROSIS FACTOR ALFA WITH TYPE-2 DIABETES MELLITUS

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a multifactorial chronic disease. It is the leading cause of premature death worldwide. Inflammatory cytokines have been reported with their potential enhancement to insulin resistance and increase the prevalence of T2DM. Therefore, an assessment of the immunological factors associated with T2DM could help in better monitoring and discovering new immunological treatments for T2DM. This study aimed to evaluate the levels of certain immunological parameters, tumour necrosis factor alfa (TNF-alpha) and tolllike receptor 4 (TLR4) as potential indicators for T2DM disease in a sample of the Iraqi population. A total of 90 subjects were enrolled in our study. These were chosen from three group categories: young T2DM patients, old T2DM patients, and healthy control. Both males and females were enrolled. The BMI and HbA1c were measured for all participants. Also, serum expression levels of TLR4 and TNF-alpha were evaluated for all participants by using the ELISA technique. Data were analysed using the statistical software SPSS 26. The results revealed the presence of significant differences between the three tested groups regarding BMI, HbA1c, and TLR4; the diabetic groups had the higher significant means in comparison with the healthy control group. In contrast, TNF-alpha did not show a significant difference among the participants. BMI had a significant correlation with HbA1c and TLR4. Also, there was a significant correlation between TLR4 and TNF-alpha, which ensures the immunological effect during T2DM. The findings revealed that TLR4 could be regarded as an early prediction biomarker for T2DM because it had a significant correlation with HbA1c among both young and old diabetic patients and increases as the HbA1c increases.