Emerging studies suggest that type-2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) can regulate adipose metabolism; however, little is known about the activity of ILC2s in metabolic imbalance in obesity and diabetes.

A new study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Immunology explored the effect of ILC2s-related molecules on the occurrence of metabolic syndrome in type-2 diabetic nephropathy.

This study analyzed 30 patients with type-2 diabetic nephropathy for their mRNA expression of ILC2s associated molecules from peripheral blood mononuclear cell, and the correlation of the ILC2s activity and the metabolic syndrome related indicators.

The results revealed that the waist circumference, fasting blood glucose, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and triglyceride in patients with simple diabetes and diabetic nephropathy were increased, while the incidence of metabolic syndrome was 46.67% and 86.67%, respectively. Additionally, the ILC2s associated factors RAR-related orphan receptor alpha (RORα), T1/ST2, and interleukin (IL)-5/IL-13 mRNA were increased in diabetic nephropathy. Meanwhile, a positive correlation could be established between the expression level of IL-13 or T1/ST2 mRNA and some metabolic syndrome (MS) indices. Furthermore, the levels of plasma soluble tumor necrosis factor receptors (sTNFR), eosinophil chemotactic protein 2 (eotaxin-2), and I-309 (human cytokine) were also increased in patients with type-2 diabetic nephropathy.

The findings of this study indicated that the patients with type-2 diabetic nephropathy had a higher predisposition for multiple components of metabolic syndrome than those with simple type-2 diabetes mellitus; and that, enhanced ILC2s activity might be involved in the formation of metabolic syndrome in diabetic nephropathy via influencing blood pressure and lipid metabolism.