The circulating progenitor cells of patients with type 2 diabetes may result in a shift from a regenerative to a pro-inflammatory phenotype, "suggesting impaired revascularization capacity," according to research presented at AHA 2018 in Chicago, IL, and published Nov. 5 in JACC: Basic to Translational Science.

Daniella C. Terenzi, BHSc, et al., looked at blood samples of 30 patients ages 40 years and older with established type 2 diabetes who were gender matched with 30 individuals without type 2 diabetes.

Results showed that although the two groups had similar frequencies of circulating progenitor cells with high aldehyde dehydrogenase-activity and low cellular complexity, the type 2 diabetes group exhibited significantly lower co-expression of primitive progenitor cell markers previously associated with pro-angiogenic secretory function and chemokine receptors associated with migration towards hypoxia. The type 2 diabetes group also had fewer angiogenesis supportive M2 macrophages. On the other hand, the type 2 diabetes group had significantly more granular cells with high aldehyde dehydrogenase-activity associated with pro-inflammatory functions vs. those in the non-type 2 diabetes group.

The authors conclude that moving forward, "further research is warranted to assess the pro-angiogenic secretory capacity of circulating high aldehyde dehydrogenase cells in individuals with type 2 diabetes."

Clinical Topics: Cardiovascular Care Team

Keywords: AHA18, AHA Annual Scientific Sessions, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Aldehyde Dehydrogenase, Receptors, Chemokine, Translational Medical Research, Stem Cells, Cell Count, Regeneration, Phenotype, Macrophages

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