Serum concentrations of the chemokine interferon-inducible protein-10 'IP-10/CXCL 10' in type 1 diabetes mellitus patients: its relation to the state of autoimmunity and duration of the disease

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Chemokines glycoproteins with potent leukocyte activation and/or chemotactic activity. Chemokines mediate their effects via interaction with specific chemokine receptors expressed on a wide range of cell types. The CXC subfamily of chemokines shares a common structure of a single amino acid separating the two amino terminal cysteine residues [C1, C2]. Chemokines have been implicated as inflammatory mediators in a wide range of pathologies on the basis of studies using clinical material and animal disease models. Most patients with type 1 diabetes are considered to have T-cell-mediated autoimmune disease. A clinically applicable method of measuring pancreatic beta-cell-specific T-cell function in cases of type 1 diabetes has yet to be established Interferon-inducible protein-10 [IP-10] is a chemokine that promotes the migration of activated T cells [T helper 1 [Th1] lymphocytes], and a correlation has been reported between the level of this chemokine and disease activity in cases of chronic active hepatitis in humans