Evaluation of IL-6 and IL-17A Levels in Diabetic Iraqi Patients Infected with COVID-19

Abstract Background: Patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) have compromised innate and acquired immunity. DM is an independent predictor of morbidity and mortality in severe acute respiratory syndrome. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) illness is further prone to a cytokine storm characterized by elevated titers of inflammatory cytokines. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-17A (IL-17A) in COVID-19 and T2DM in Iraqi patients. Materials and Methods: The clinical and immunological characteristics of 40 hospitalized confirmed COVID-19 patients, including 20 COVID-19 patients with T2DM as group 1 (G1), 20 COVID-19 patients without T2DM as group 2 (G2), and 20 patients with T2DM only as group 3 (G3). Furthermore, 20 individuals as healthy controls were analyzed. The serum IL-6 and IL-17A levels were measured by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique, and the results were compared among the study groups. Results: IL-6 increased significantly ( P < 0.05) in G1, G2, and G3 (268.62 ± 41.74, 241.94 ± 38.29, and 107.56 ± 9.58), respectively, compared with the control group (88.77 ± 3.5). There were highly significant differences ( P < 0.05) in IL-17A mean values of the study groups G1, G2, and G3 (38.33 ± 1.84, 34.46 ± 1.83, and 30.19 ± 1.54), respectively, compared with the control groups (28.30 ± 2.03). Conclusions: Patients with both T2DM and COVID-19 indicated higher IL-6 and IL-17 levels than patients with COVID-19 only, also higher than those infected with T2DM only. T2DM patients have higher levels of IL-6 and IL-17A compared with the control group.