Association between Antioxidant Enzyme Activities and Enterovirus -Infected Type 1 Diabetic Children

Objective: To examine the effect of infection with Enterovirus (EV) in children with type 1 diabetes (T1D) on the activities of serum antioxidant enzymes in diabetic and nondiabetic controls. Subjects and Methods: Three hundred and eighty-two diabetic and 100 nondiabetic children were tested for EV RNA using reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR. The activities of serum superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and catalase (CAT) were also estimated in diabetic patients infected with EV (T1D-EV+), those not infected with EV (T1D-EV–), and in nondiabetic controls. Results: The frequency of EV was higher in diabetic children (100/382; 26.2%) than in healthy controls (0/100). Levels of fasting blood glucose (FBG), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA_1c) and C-reactive protein (CRP) were significantly higher but C-peptide was significantly lower in diabetic children than in controls. CRP levels were higher in the T1D-EV+ group than in the T1D-EV– group, and higher in all diabetic children than in nondiabetic controls. The activities of the antioxidant enzymes GPx, SOD, and CAT decreased significantly in diabetic children compared to in controls. Moreover, the activities of the enzymes tested were significantly reduced in the T1D-EV+ group compared to in the T1D-EV– group. Conclusion: Our data indicate that EV infection correlated with a decrease in the activity of antioxidant enzymes in the T1D-EV+ group compared to in the T1D-EV– group; this may contribute to β cell damage and increased inflammation.