Expansion of Pathogen-Specific T-Helper 1 and T-Helper 17 Cells in Pulmonary Tuberculosis With Coincident Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

Therefore, our data reveal that tuberculosis in persons with DM is characterized by elevated frequencies of Th1 and Th17 cells, indicating that DM is associated with an alteration in the immune response to tuberculosis, leading to a biased induction of Th1- and Th17-mediated cellular responses and likely contributing to increased immune pathology in M. tuberculosis infection.