T cells are elevated in abdominal and femoral adipose tissue in females with type 2 diabetes.

Adipose tissue (AT) immune cells are implicated in the pathology of type 2 diabetes (T2D), and their content likely differs between abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue (abSAT), femoral SAT (fmSAT), and visceral adipose tissue (VAT). Therefore, the objective of the current study was to develop an understanding of how immune cell presence differs between abSAT, fmSAT, and VAT depots in females who are lean (NO), have obesity (OB), or have OB + T2D. Premenopausal females were recruited from the community (NO, n = 14) or bariatric surgery clinics (OB, n = 10; OB + T2D, n = 8) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. abSAT and fmSAT were obtained by needle aspiration biopsy in all participants, while VAT was excised from the OB and OB + T2D groups during surgery. AT immune cells were isolated from AT biopsies and stained for quantification via flow cytometry. OB + T2D fmSAT had a greater number of T cells (CD3+) than the NO group, with no difference between the NO and OB groups. We further found that abSAT CD3+, CD3+CD4+, CD3+CD8+, and CD68+CD206+ cells were greater in the OB + T2D group, followed by the OB group and then NO participants. There were no regional differences in T cells, macrophages, natural killer cells, or B cells between individuals with OB and OB + T2D. Our findings indicate that the importance of fmSAT and abSAT T cells in T2D pathogenesis should be further investigated.