Infections Cause Diabetes

Type 1 Diabetes

Evaluation Report. Special Statutory Funding Program for Type 1 Diabetes Research. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Aug. 2007. "Goal I: Identify the Genetic and Environmental Causes of Type 1 Diabetes," includes "Explore the possible role of emerging infectious agents, orphan viruses, and intestinal bacteria in the etiology of type 1 diabetes." U.S. Government research agenda is on track for a change.

Funding Program for Type 1 Diabetes Research / NIH (pdf, 348 pp)

The presence of GAD and IA-2 antibodies in youth with a type 2 diabetes phenotype: results from the TODAY study. GJ Klingensmith, L Pyle, S Arslanian, KC Copeland, L Cuttler, F Kaufman, L Laffel, S Marcovina, SE Tollefsen, RS Weinstock, B Linder; TODAY Study Group. Diabetes Care 2010 Sep;33(9):1970-1975. "Of the 1,206 subjects screened and considered clinically to have type 2 diabetes, 118 (9.8%) were antibody positive... In this trial, subjects with positive GAD-65 antibodies had lower fasting insulin, significantly lower homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance and triglycerides and higher HDL cholesterol than in those without GAD-65 autoantibodies, suggesting less insulin resistance in the DAA-positive subjects... [T]aken together with our data, these results indicate that obese individuals with diabetes and autoimmunity are closer physiologically to their normal-weight peers with type 1 diabetes than to antibody-negative individuals with type 2 diabetes."

Klingensmith - Diabetes Care 2010 full article / PubMed Central
Klingensmith / Diabetes Care 2010 full article

Enterovirus infection and type 1 diabetes mellitus: systematic review and meta-analysis of observational molecular studies. WC Yeung, WD Rawlinson, ME Craig. BMJ 2011 Feb 3;342:d35. "[S]ystematic review of 33 prevalence studies, involving 1931 cases and 2517 controls, shows a clinically significant association between enterovirus infection and islet autoimmunity or type 1 diabetes. The association between enterovirus infection, detected with molecular methods, and diabetes was strong, with almost 10 times the odds of enterovirus infection in children at diagnosis of type 1 diabetes compared with controls (9.8, 5.5 to 17.4), while the odds of infection was also higher in children with pre-diabetes than in controls (3.7, 2.1 to 6.8)." Most studies used PCR detection of the highly conserved 5' untranslated region of the enterovirus genome, which is significantly more sensitive than serology.

Yeung / BMJ full article
Yeung - BMJ 2011 full article / PubMed Central

Exposure to the Viral By-Product dsRNA or Coxsackievirus B5 Triggers Pancreatic Beta Cell Apoptosis via a Bim / Mcl-1 Imbalance. ML Colli, TC Nogueira, F Allagnat, DA Cunha, EN Gurzov, AK Cardozo, M Roivainen, AO Beeck, DL Eizirik. PLoS Pathog 2011;7(9):e1002267. "Most candidate genes for T1D are supposed to act at the immune system level, but we have recently shown that nearly 30% of these candidate genes are also expressed in beta cells and may modulate their responses after exposure to potential environmental factors. These findings indicate that beta cells are not only targets, but also actors of T1D pathophysiology."

Colli / PLoS Pathog 2011 full article

Virus infections in type 1 diabetes. KT Coppieters, T Boettler, M von Herrath. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med 2012 Jan;2(1):a007682. Review.

Coppieters - Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med 2012 full article / PubMed Central

Type 1 diabetes is associated with enterovirus infection in gut mucosa. M Oikarinen, S Tauriainen, S Oikarinen, T Honkanen, P Collin, I Rantala, M Mäki, K Kaukinen, H Hyöty. Diabetes 2012 Mar;61(3):687-691. Small-bowel mucosal biopsy samples from 39 type 1 diabetic patients, 41 control subjects, and 40 celiac disease patients. "Enterovirus RNA was found in diabetic patients more frequently than in control subjects and was associated with a clear inflammation response in the gut mucosa. Viral RNA was often detected in the absence of viral protein, suggesting defective replication of the virus. Patients remained virus positive in follow-up samples taken after 12 months' observation."

Oikarinen - Diabetes 2012 abstract / PubMed

Type 2 Diabetes

Hepatitis C Virus Causes Insulin Resistance and Diabetes

Association of diabetes mellitus and chronic hepatitis C virus infection. AL Mason, JY Lau, N Hoang, K Qian, GJ Alexander, L Xu, L Guo, S Jacob, FG Regenstein, R Zimmerman, JE Everhart, C Wasserfall, NK Maclaren, RP Perrillo. Hepatology 1999 Feb;29(2):328-333. "In the diabetes cohort, 4.2% of patients were found to be infected with HCV compared with 1.6% of control patients (P =.02). HCV genotype 2a was observed in 29% of HCV-RNA-positive diabetic patients versus 3% of local HCV-infected controls (P <.005). In conclusion, the data suggest a relatively strong association between HCV infection and diabetes, because diabetics have an increased frequency of HCV infection, particularly with genotype 2a. Furthermore, it is possible that HCV infection may serve as an additional risk factor for the development of diabetes, beyond that attributable to chronic liver disease alone."

Mason - Hepatology 1999 abstract / PubMed

Hepatitis C virus down-regulates insulin receptor substrates 1 and 2 through up-regulation of suppressor of cytokine signaling 3. T Kawaguchi, T Yoshida, M Harada, T Hisamoto, Y Nagao, T Ide, E Taniguchi, H Kumemura, S Hanada, M Maeyama, S Baba, H Koga, R Kumashiro, T Ueno, H Ogata, A Yoshimura, M Sata. Am J Pathol 2004 Nov;165(5):1499-1508. "An increase in fasting insulin levels was associated with the presence of serum HCV core, the severity of hepatic fibrosis and a decrease in expression of insulin receptor substrate (IRS) 1 and IRS2, central molecules of the insulin-signaling cascade, in patients with HCV infection. Down-regulation of IRS1 and IRS2 was also seen in HCV core-transgenic mice livers and HCV core-transfected human hepatoma cells.... In human hepatoma cells, HCV core up-regulated suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS) 3 and caused ubiquitination of IRS1 and IRS2. HCV core-induced down-regulation of IRS1 and IRS2 was not seen in SOCS3(-/-) mouse embryonic fibroblast cells. Furthermore, HCV core suppressed insulin-induced phosphorylation of p85 subunit of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and Akt, activation of 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase, and glucose uptake."

Kawaguchi - Am J Pathol 2004 full article / PubMed Central

Chronic hepatitis C and type II diabetes mellitus: a prospective cross-sectional study. CO Zein, C Levy, A Basu, NN Zein. Am J Gastroenterol 2005 Jan;100(1):48-55. 179 patients. "The crude percentage of DM for the cohort was 14.5%, different from the crude rate of 7.8% for the general population (p= 0.0008) and from the rate of 7.3% observed in a matched control group with non-HCV liver disease. The prevalence of DM and IFG (DM/IFG) was higher among HCV-infected patients with advanced versus those with early histological disease (p= 0.0004).... DM and IFG were not associated with anthropomorphic markers of obesity in HCV patients."

Zein - Am J Gastroenterol 2005 abstract / PubMed

Hepatitis C virus infection and the development of type 2 diabetes in a community-based longitudinal study. CS Wang, ST Wang, WJ Yao, TT Chang, P Chou. Am J Epidemiol 2007 Jul 15;166(2):196-203. 4,958 persons aged > or =40 years without diabetes (3,486 seronegative, 812 anti-HCV+, 116 with hepatitis B virus/HCV coinfection, and 544 hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)+. 474 cases developed. "The 7-year cumulative incidence was 7.5% for HBsAg+, 8.6% for seronegative, 14.3% for anti-HCV+, and 14.7% for coinfected participants."

Wang / Am J Epidemiol 2007 full article

Hepatitis C virus directly associates with insulin resistance independent of the visceral fat area in nonobese and nondiabetic patients. M Yoneda, S Saito, T Ikeda, K Fujita, H Mawatari, H Kirikoshi, M Inamori Y Nozaki, T Akiyama, H Takahashi, Y Abe, K Kubota, T Iwasaki, Y Terauchi, S Togo, S Nakajima. J Viral Hepat 2007 Sep;14(9):600-607. "The results of univariate analysis revealed a significant correlation between the quantity of HCV-RNA and the HOMA-IR (r = 0.368, P = 0.0291). While a significant correlation between the visceral adipose tissue area and the HOMA-IR was also observed in the 97 control, nondiabetic, non-HCV-infected patients (r = 0.398, P < 0.0001), no such significant correlation between the visceral adipose tissue area and the HOMA-IR (r = 0.124, P = 0.496) was observed in the patients with HCV infection. Multiple regression analysis with adjustment for age, gender and visceral adipose tissue area revealed a significant correlation between the HCV-RNA and the HOMA-IR (P = 0.0446). HCV is directly associated with IR in a dose-dependent manner, independent of the visceral adipose tissue area."

Yoneda - J Viral Hepat 2007 abstract / PubMed

Risk factors for the development of diabetes mellitus in chronic hepatitis C virus genotype 4 infection. W Chehadeh, N Abdella, A Ben-Nakhi, M Al-Arouj, W Al-Nakib. J Gastroenterol Hepatol 2009 Jan;24(1):42-48. 181 HCV-positive patients and 170 control HCV-negative patients with T2D. "The prevalence of HCV-patients with T2D was 39.8%. There was no significant association of T2D with gender, nationality, obesity, HCV viral load, or antiviral therapy. Older age (>or= 50 years) and family history of diabetes were the only independent risk factor for T2D in HCV patients. However, the median age and the prevalence of obesity in HCV-positive patients with T2D were significantly lower than those in diabetic HCV-negative patients. By following-up HCV-patients receiving antiviral drugs, a significant decrease of fasting plasma glucose and glycosylated hemoglobin levels was observed in diabetic patients who achieved a sustained viral response (SVR)."

Chehadeh - J Gastroenterol Hepatol 2009 abstract / PubMed

Hepatitis C virus and type 2 diabetes. F Negro, M Alaei. World J Gastroenterol 2009 Apr 7;15(13):1537-1547. Review. "[Type 2 diabetes] is a common complication of all liver diseases, independently of the etiology, especially at the advanced stage. However, clinical and experimental data suggest a direct role of HCV in the perturbation of glucose metabolism. The first observation that cirrhotic patients infected with HCV may present with T2D more often than patients with cirrhosis of other etiology was reported in 1994 by Allison et al. Most studies using a cross-sectional design and comparing the prevalence of T2D in a population of chronic hepatitis C patients with that of a comparator group have confirmed these preliminary observations, with rare exceptions."

Negro - World J Gastroenterol 2009 full article / PubMed Central

Molecular mechanisms of insulin resistance in chronic hepatitis C. MW Douglas, J George. World J Gastroenterol 2009 Sep 21;15(35):4356-4364. Review. "It is now widely recognized that chronic hepatitis C (CHC) is associated with insulin resistance (IR) and type 2 diabetes, so can be considered a metabolic disease. IR is most strongly associated with hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1, in contrast to hepatic steatosis, which is associated with genotype 3 infection." 180 million people, over 3% of the world's population, are infected.

Douglas - World J Gastroenterol 2009 full article / PubMed Central

Prevalence of type 2 diabetes in Algerian patients with hepatitis C virus infection. S Rouabhia, R Malek, H Bounecer, A Dekaken, F Bendali Amor, M Sadelaoud, A Benouar. World J Gastroenterol 2010 Jul 21;16(27):3427-3431. "The prevalence of DM was higher in HCV-infected patients in comparison with HBV-infected patients (39.1% vs 5%, P < 0.0001). Among patients without cirrhosis, diabetes was more prevalent in HCV-infected patients than in HBV-infected patients (33.5% vs 4.3%, P < 0.0001). Among patients with cirrhosis, diabetes was more prevalent in HCV-infected patients, but the difference was not significant (67.4% vs 20%, P = 0.058). The logistic regression analysis showed that HCV infection [odds ratio (OR) 4.73, 95% CI: 1.7-13.2], metabolic syndrome (OR 12.35, 95% CI: 6.18-24.67), family history of diabetes (OR 3.2, 95% CI: 1.67-6.13) and increased hepatic enzymes (OR 2.22, 95% CI: 1.1-4.5) were independently related to DM in these patients."

Rouabhia - World J Gastroenterol 2010 full article / PubMed Central

Human cytomegalovirus infection inhibits response of chronic hepatitis-C-virus-infected patients to interferon-based therapy. NG Bader el-Din, M Abd el-Meguid, AA Tabll, MA Anany, G Esmat, N Zayed, A Helmy, AR el-Zayady, A Barakat, MK el-Awady. J Gastroenterol Hepatol 2011 Jan;26(1):55-62. "CMV DNA was detected in 89.7% of non-responders and in 34.6% of sustained virological responders. Patients with reactivated CMV had significantly higher fibrosis scores (72.7%) than those with undetectable CMV DNA (23.8%, P=0.002). Patients with positive CMV had higher rates of non-response and relapse (79.5%) than those with negative CMV DNA (19%). Chronic HCV patients with latent CMV had higher rates of response (81%) to treatment than those with reactivated CMV (20.5%, P<0.001). Therefore, HCV patients with reactivated CMV and advanced fibrosis were least likely to achieve a sustained virological response following interferon therapy. This possibility is reduced to 50% of its original value in patients with reactivated CMV without fibrosis."

Bader el-Din - J Gastroenterol Hepatol 2011 abstract / PubMed

Changes in insulin sensitivity and body weight during and after peginterferon and ribavirin therapy for hepatitis C. HS Conjeevaram, AS Wahed, N Afdhal, CD Howell, JE Everhart, JH Hoofnagle; Virahep-C Study Group. Gastroenterology 2011 Feb;140(2):469-477. 341 patients. "The presence of insulin resistance was associated with increasing age, body mass index (BMI), and fibrosis stage. Among patients with insulin resistance at the start of the trial, median decreases in HOMA2-IR values during treatment were 0.74 at 24 weeks and 0.89 at 48 weeks, whereas BMI decreased by 1.2 and 2.2 at the same time points (P < .001 for all). At follow-up, HOMA2-IR and BMI levels returned toward baseline values in patients who did not respond or relapsed, but HOMA2-IR values remained significantly lower in patients with sustained virologic response (SVR) (P < .001), despite increases in BMI."

Conjeevaram - Gastroenterology 2011 abstract / PubMed

Hepatitis C Virus Infection Promotes Hepatic Gluconeogenesis through an NS5A-Mediated, FoxO1-Dependent Pathway. L Deng, I Shoji, W Ogawa, S Kaneda, T Soga, DP Jiang, YH Ide, H Hotta. J Virol 2011 Sep;85(17):8556-8568. "Here, using Huh-7.5 cells either harboring HCV-1b RNA replicons or infected with HCV-2a, we showed that HCV transcriptionally upregulated the genes for phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) and glucose 6-phosphatase (G6Pase), the rate-limiting enzymes for hepatic gluconeogenesis. In this way, HCV enhanced the cellular production of glucose 6-phosphate (G6P) and glucose."

Deng - J Virol 2011 abstract / PubMed

Hepatitis C virus activates mTOR/S6K1 signaling pathway in inhibiting IRS-1 function for insolin resistance. SK Bose, S Shrivastava, K Meyer, BB Ray, R Ray. J Virol 2012 Mar 28 [Epub ahead of print]. "Inhibition of IRS-1 expression was observed in HCV infected hepatocytes as compared to mock infected control. The status of tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC-1/TSC-2) was significantly decreased after HCV infection of human hepatocytes, showing a modulation of the downstream Akt pathway. Subsequent study indicated an increased level of Rheb and mTOR expression in HCV infected hepatocytes. Interestingly, phosphoS6K1 level was higher in HCV infected hepatocytes, suggesting a novel mechanism for IRS-1 inhibition. Ectopic expression of TSC-1/TSC-2 significantly recovered IRS-1 protein expression level in HCV infected hepatocytes. Further analyses indicated that HCV core protein plays a significant role in modulating the mTOR/S6K1 signaling pathway."

Bose - J Virol 2012 abstract / PubMed

The Role of Cytomegalovirus

Pervasive influence of hepatitis C virus on the phenotype of antiviral CD8+ T cells. M Lucas, AL Vargas-Cuero, GM Lauer, E Barnes, CB Willberg, N Semmo, BD Walker, R Phillips, P Klenerman. J Immunol 2004 Feb 1;172(3):1744-1753. "Recent studies using MHC class I tetramers have shown that CD8(+) T cell responses against different persistent viruses vary considerably in magnitude and phenotype. At one extreme, hepatitis C virus (HCV)-specific CD8(+) T cell responses in blood are generally weak and have a phenotype that is perforin low and CCR7 high (early memory). At the other, specific responses to CMV are strong, perforin high, and CCR7 low (mature or effector memory). To examine the potential mechanisms behind this diversity, we compared CMV-specific responses in HCV-infected and healthy individuals. We find a striking difference in the phenotype of CMV-specific CD8(+) T cells between these groups. In the HCV-infected cohort, CMV-specific CD8(+) T cells lost markers associated with maturity; they had increased expression of CCR7 and reduced expression of Fas and perforin. They nevertheless responded to Ag in vitro in a manner similar to controls, with strong proliferation and appropriate acquisition of effector memory markers. The reduction in mature CD8 T cells in HCV-infected individuals may arise through either impairment or regulation of T cell stimulation, or through the early loss of mature T cells. Whatever the mechanism, HCV has a pervasive influence on the circulating CD8(+) T cell population, a novel feature that may be a hallmark of this infection."

Lucas - J Immunol 2004 abstract / PubMed

[Prevalence, clinical and therapeutical implications of active CMV infection in patients with chronic hepatitis C]. TW Lapiński, O Kovalchuk, A Parfieniuk, R Flisiak. Przegl Epidemiol 2009;63(2):305-309. 123 patients with chronic hepatitis C. "Active CMV replication was observed in 18/123 individuals (14.6%). Majority of them (16/18) have low level of CMV viraemia. There were no apparent correlations between HCV and CMV viral loads. Hemoglobin concentration, erythrocytes, leucocytes and platelet count, absolute neutrophil count and activity of alanine transaminase was similar in HCV and HCV/CMV -infected patients. Active CMV infection did not influence inflammatory activity and fibrosis in liver tissue. The early virologic response to anti-HCV therapy was independent of CMV infection."

Lapiński - Przegl Epidemiol 2009 abstract / PubMed

Access of viral proteins to mitochondria via mitochondria-associated membranes. CD Williamson, AM Colberg-Poley. Rev Med Virol 2009 May;19(3):147-164. "Proteins from two unrelated viruses, human CMV (HCMV) and HCV, are documented to traffic sequentially from the ER into mitochondria, probably through the mitochondria-associated membrane (MAM) compartment. The MAM are sites of ER-mitochondrial contact enabling the direct transfer of membrane bound lipids and the generation of high calcium (Ca2+) microdomains for mitochondria signalling and responses to cellular stress. Both HCV core protein and HCMV UL37 proteins are associated with Ca2+ regulation and apoptotic signals. Trafficking of viral proteins to the MAM may allow viruses to manipulate a variety of fundamental cellular processes, which converge at the MAM, including Ca2+ signalling, lipid synthesis and transfer, bioenergetics, metabolic flow, and apoptosis. Because of their distinct topologies and targeted MAM sub-domains, mitochondrial trafficking (albeit it through the MAM) of the HCMV and HCV proteins predictably involves alternative pathways and, hence, distinct targeting signals. Indeed, we found that multiple cellular and viral proteins, which target the MAM, showed no apparent consensus primary targeting sequences."

Williamson - Rev Med Virol 2009 abstract / PubMed

Prevalence of human cytomegalovirus co-infection in patients with chronic viral hepatitis B and C: a comparison of clinical and histological aspects. A Bayram, A Ozkur, S Erkilic. J Clin Virol 2009 Jul;45(3):212-217. 44 chronic HBV, 25 chronic HCV patients, 36 controls. "HCMV infection was demonstrated in 52.3% of chronic HBV, and 36% of chronic HCV patients. Although alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels of HCMV-infected HBV patients were decreased slightly, they were increased in HCV patients. Histologic activity scores (necroinflammation and fibrosis) of HCMV-positive patients were higher than that of HCMV-negatives in both HBV and HCV groups. Intrahepatic HBV DNA or HCV RNA loads of the corresponding study groups were decreased in HCMV-infected patients." They concluded that replication of HBV and HCV were inhibited in HCMV-positive cases.

Bayram - J Clin Virol 2009 abstract / PubMed

CD4+ T-lymphocyte telomere length is related to fibrosis stage, clinical outcome and treatment response in chronic hepatitis C virus infection. M Hoare, WT Gelson, A Das, JM Fletcher, SE Davies, MD Curran, SL Vowler, MK Maini, AN Akbar, GJ Alexander. J Hepatol 2010 Aug;53(2):252-260. 135 HCV-RNA-positive, treatment-naïve patients and 41 healthy controls. "Shorter CD4+CD45RO+ T-lymphocyte telomeres were associated with severe fibrosis (p=0.003), independent of male sex (p=0.04), CMV positivity (p=0.003), previous HBV infection (p=0.007), and age (p=ns) in viraemic patients compared to controls. There were inverse correlations between CD4+CD45RO+ telomere length and fibrosis stage (p<0.001), portal tract inflammatory grade (p=0.035), prothrombin time (p<0.001) and bilirubin (p=0.001). One hundred and twenty-four viraemic individuals were followed prospectively to a composite endpoint of death, hepatic decompensation or HCC. Independent of age, those with shorter CD4+CD45RO+ telomeres were less likely to be complication free after 2-years than those with longer telomeres (86% versus 96%, p=0.009) with an age-adjusted hazard ratio of 0.93 (0.90-0.96). In addition, CD4+CD45RO+ telomere length predicted successful antiviral therapy (p=0.001) independent of other factors."

Hoare - J Hepatol 2010 abstract / PubMed

Human cytomegalovirus infection inhibits response of chronic hepatitis-C-virus-infected patients to interferon-based therapy. NG Bader el-Din, M Abd el-Meguid, AA Tabll, MA Anany, G Esmat, N Zayed, A Helmy, AR el-Zayady, A Barakat, MK el-Awady. J Gastroenterol Hepatol 2011 Jan;26(1):55-62. "CMV DNA was detected in 89.7% of non-responders and in 34.6% of sustained virological responders. Patients with reactivated CMV had significantly higher fibrosis scores (72.7%) than those with undetectable CMV DNA (23.8%, P=0.002). Patients with positive CMV had higher rates of non-response and relapse (79.5%) than those with negative CMV DNA (19%). Chronic HCV patients with latent CMV had higher rates of response (81%) to treatment than those with reactivated CMV (20.5%, P<0.001). Therefore, HCV patients with reactivated CMV and advanced fibrosis were least likely to achieve a sustained virological response following interferon therapy. This possibility is reduced to 50% of its original value in patients with reactivated CMV without fibrosis."

Bader el-Din - J Gastroenterol Hepatol 2011 abstract / PubMed

Expansion of CD4+CD28null T-lymphocytes in diabetic patients: exploring new pathogenetic mechanisms of increased cardiovascular risk in diabetes mellitus. S Giubilato, G Liuzzo, S Brugaletta, D Pitocco, F Graziani, C Smaldone, RA Montone, V Pazzano, D Pedicino, LM Biasucci, G Ghirlanda, F Crea. Eur Heart J 2011 Jan 8 [Epub ahead of print]. 166 acute coronary syndrome patients with or without DM (ACS/DM+, n= 51 and ACS/DM-, n= 115), and 60 healthy controls. The incidence of cardiovascular events (death, myocardial infarction, unstable angina) was assessed at 36 months follow-up. CD4(+)CD28(null)T-cell frequency (median, range) was higher in ACS/DM+ (12.7%, 0.1-48) vs. ACS/DM- (3.9%, 0.2-35), cDM (3.1%, 0.3-22.4), and controls (1.5%, 0.1-9.1) (P< 0.001 for all comparisons). Notably, cDM patients had significantly higher CD4(+)CD28(null)T-cell frequency than controls (P= 0.001). Glycosylated haemoglobin A(1c) was the only parameter independently associated with CD4(+)CD28(null)T-cells in cDM. The 36-month event-free survival was significantly lower in cDM patients with CD4(+)CD28(null)T-cells ≥4% (90th percentile of normal distribution) than in those with CD4(+)CD28(null)T-cells <4% (P= 0.039). Among ACS patients, the 36-month event-free survival was the lowest in those with DM and CD4(+)CD28(null)T-cells ≥4% and highest in those without DM and CD4(+)CD28(null)T-cells <4% (P< 0.001), being intermediate in those with only one of these features."

Giubilato - Eur Heart J 2011 abstract / PubMed

Susceptibility of human pancreatic β cells for cytomegalovirus infection and the effects on cellular immunogenicity. MJ Smelt, MM Faas, BJ de Haan, C Draijer, GC Hugenholtz, A de Haan, MA Engelse, EJ de Koning, P de Vos. Pancreas 2012 Jan;41(1):39-49. "β Cells were susceptible to HCMV infection. Moreover, the infection increased the cellular immunogenicity, as demonstrated by an increased MHC I and ICAM-1 expression and an increased proinflammatory cytokine release. Human cytomegalovirus-infected CM cells potently activated PBMCs. The infection-induced effects were dependent on both viral "sensing" and viral replication."

Smelt - Pancreas 2012 abstract / PubMed

See Also:

Hepatitis Viruses are the Real Cause of "Smoking Related" Liver Cancer - studies have found HCV DNA by reverse transcriptase PCR in patients who were negative for antibodies to HCV.
CMV & other infections cause heart disease

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cast 04-30-12