A study of phagocytosis in Insulin dependent diabetes mellitus

Abstract

To investigate the cause of susceptibility of the diabetic patients to infection, phagocytic functions including chemotaxis, opsonization and NBT as well as levels of C3 and C4 complements and immunoglobulin were tested in 61 patients with insulin dependent diabetes. Chemotaxis tests done with chemotactic factor on patients' serum plus normal cells were abnormal in 96.4% of cases with respect to controls. NBT test was abnormal in 45% of patients. C3 and C4 levels were tested in half of the patients in whom C4 levels were normal in all cases and C3 levels decreased in 50% of cases. Opsonization was also abnormal in the latter group. IgA, IgG and IgM were measured in one 3rd of the patients, which revealed higher levels than that of controls in all cases. Levels of HbA1C which is a good indicator of glucose control, correlated well with the abnormal tests (I.e. higher percentage of abnormal tests with respect to higher percentage of HbA1C