Increased Circulating Levels of CXC Chemokines is Correlated with Duration and Complications of the Disease in Type-1 Diabetes: A Study on Iranian Diabetic Patients

Background: Type-1 diabetes (T1D) is characterized as a heterogenous autoimmune disease. Immune system factors are important in the pathogenesis of T1D. Chemokines as crucial members of the immune system are key factors in the pathogenesis of several autoimmune diseases, including T1D. They are potent chemotactic cytokines with various functions varied from maturation, trafficking of leukocytes, to angiogenesis, angiostasis, and homing of stem cells. Therefore, the current study was aimed to examine if the expression of pro-angiogenic CXC chemokines like CXCL1 and anti-angiogenic chemochines such as CXCL9 are associated with duration and complications of T1D in Iranian diabetic patients. Methods: In this experimental study, blood samples were collected from 209 T1D patients and 189 healthy controls. The serum levels of CXCL1 and CXCL9 were measured by ELISA. Demographic data were also collected on a questionnaire which was designed specifically for this study. Results: Increased plasma levels of chemokines studied (CXCL1 and CXCL9) were observed in T1D patients compared to controls. Current findings also demonstrated that there was a close association between chemokines and complications of T1D and chemokines were elevated in T1D patients suffering complications. Conclusions: Our results probably suggest that the serum levels of CXCL1 and CXCL9 play important roles in T1D pathogenesis. It is also worth noting that these factors are useful prognostic and/or diagnostic biological markers in T1D patients.