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Imbalance in T-cell differentiation as a biomarker of chronic diabetic foot ulceration

Cellular & Molecular Immunology volume 16, pages 833–834 (2019)Cite this article

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Diabetes is a growing epidemic due to the systematic increase in overweight and obesity, and chronic diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) are the most debilitating and costly complication of diabetes. Prevention is still essential for DFU care, but early detection is limited because we do not have a good DFU biomarker. Here, we report the preliminary results of a large longitudinal study to test the effectiveness of the use of T-cell phenotype and TCR repertoire diversity as DFU biomarkers. Our results show that the ratio of effector/naïve T-cells and the number of TCR expansions are valuable biomarkers of DFU prognosis.

Diabetes is the biggest epidemic in human history and is growing due to the systematic increase in overweight and obesity, and chronic diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) are the most debilitating complications of diabetes.1 In DFUs, wound healing is compromised due to neuropathy, microangiopathy and impaired immune function.2

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge support from the Sociedade Portuguesa de Diabetologia (SPD): Bolsa Almeida Ruas 2016, FEDER - strategic project COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007440, European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes (EFSD) and HealthyAging2020: CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-000012N2323.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Margarida Lima, Eugénia Carvalho

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology (CNC), University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    João Moura & Eugénia Carvalho

  2. INEB - Instituto Nacional de Engenharia Biomédica, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    João Moura

  3. I3S - Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    João Moura

  4. Department of Hematology, Hospital de Santo António (HSA), Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Porto (CHUP), Porto, Portugal

    João Rodrigues, Marta Gonçalves & Margarida Lima

  5. Unidade Multidisciplinar de Investigação Biomédica (UMIB/ICBAS/UP), Porto, Portugal

    João Rodrigues, Marta Gonçalves & Margarida Lima

  6. Department of Endocrinology, Hospital de Santo António (HSA), Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Porto (CHUP), Porto, Portugal

    Cláudia Amaral

  7. Department of Geriatrics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI), Little Rock, Arkansas, 72202, USA

    Eugénia Carvalho

Authors
  1. João Moura
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  2. João Rodrigues
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  3. Marta Gonçalves
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  4. Cláudia Amaral
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  5. Margarida Lima
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  6. Eugénia Carvalho
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to João Moura.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Moura, J., Rodrigues, J., Gonçalves, M. et al. Imbalance in T-cell differentiation as a biomarker of chronic diabetic foot ulceration. Cell Mol Immunol 16, 833–834 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41423-019-0233-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41423-019-0233-1

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