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Glutathione deficiency in patients with diabetes increased risk for melioidosis
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Patients with type 2 diabetes with a glutathione deficiency are at a higher risk for developing melioidosis, a disease caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei, according to data from researchers in Singapore.
“The strong association between type 2 diabetes and melioidosis presents a unique opportunity to identify, in diabetes, susceptibility factors to infection and disease. No studies have explored the mechanism for increased susceptibility to melioidosis in diabetic patients except for a recent report that found neutrophils isolated from diabetic individuals to be defective in chemotaxis, phagocytosis, and apoptosis toward B. pseudomallei,” the researchers wrote.
Researchers described B. pseudomallei as an infection which causes disease manifestations such as asymptomatic seroconversion, acute or chronic pneumonia, localized infection involving one organ, and disseminated septicemic disease involving many organs, as well as septic shock.
Kai Soo Tan, PhD, a researcher in the department of biochemistry at Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, and colleagues designed a study of patients aged 30 to 65 years, who had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes for 5 or more years (with HbA1c levels >8 at the time of blood donation.)
During the study, researchers examined whether peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from patients with diabetes and matched healthy controls had a different ability to control bacterial infections.
Researchers found that B. pseudomallei-infected PBMCs from patients with diabetes were impaired in interleukin-12p70 production. This resulted in decreased interferon-gamma induction and indigent ability to kill bacteria, the researchers wrote. IL-12 production was also defective during a Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection, they reported. Poor production of IL-12 was associated with a deficiency in concentrations of intracellular reduced glutathione in patients with diabetes.
However, adding N-acetylcysteine or glutathione to PBMCs selectively restored IL-12 and interferon-gamma production, and improved the ability to kill bacteria, they wrote.
“Given the relatively low cost of N-acetylcysteine treatment, it may even be considered as a preventative supplement in diabetics with poor glycemic control at high risk of contracting meliodosis in the hyperendemic regions,” the researchers concluded.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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