Peripheral activation of inflammatory intracellular signaling pathways and their correlation with IL6, IL10 and TNFα in obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus

Background : We investigated the activation of intracellular signaling pathways in individuals with and without T2D/obesity and correlated them with clinical characteristics and IL6, IL10 and TNFα serum levels. Methods : This study included 42 patients with T2D and 42 healthy controls matched by BMI. I ntracellular signaling pathways Akt, p38 and ERK in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs); IL6, IL10 and TNFα serum levels were evaluated. R esults: Western blot analysis revealed that phosphorylation values of Akt, p38 and ERK were not significant different between the groups; but, once individuals were stratified according to BMI, activation of Akt and ERK was associated with obesity and T2D while the activation of p38 with obesity. The phosphorylation values of these proteins were also positively correlated with BMI and waist circumference. IL6 levels correlated with P-p38 in control group, while IL10 and TNF-a did not correlated with these pathways. Conclusions : These results suggest that there is a link among obesity, T2D and intracellular signaling pathways in peripheral circulating immune cells, which may be associated with systemic low grade inflammation observed in T2D and obese patients.