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Perla Abigail Alvarado-Vázquez,1 Rachel L Grosick,2 Carolina Moracho-Vilrriales,2 Eileen Ward,2 Tiffaney Threatt,2 Edgar Alfonso Romero-Sandoval3 1Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, SE-751 23 Uppsala, Sweden; 2Department of Pharmacy Practice, Presbyterian College School of Pharmacy, Clinton, SC, USA; 3Department of Anesthesiology, Pain Mechanisms Laboratory, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA Introduction: Monocytes from patients with diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM2) are dysfunctional, persistently primed, and prone to a proinflammatory phenotype. This may alter the phenotype of their differentiation to macrophages and result in diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN), nerve damage, nerve sensitization, and chronic pain. We have previously demonstrated that CD163 is a molecule that promotes an anti-inflammatory cellular phenotype in human primary macrophages, but this has not been proven in macrophages from patients with DM2 or DPN. Thus, we hypothesize that macrophages from patients with DM2 or DPN display an altered proinflammatory functional phenotype related to cytokine production and that the induction of CD163 expression will promote a more homeostatic phenotype by reducing their proinflammatory responsiveness.Patients and methods: We tested these hypotheses in vitro using blood monocyte-derived macrophages from healthy subjects and patients with DM2 with and without DPN. Cells were incubated in the presence or the absence of 5 µg/mL of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The concentrations of interleukin-10, interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), TGF-β, and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) were measured using ELISA assays. Macrophages were transfected with an empty vector plasmid or a plasmid containing the CD163 gene using mannosylated polyethylenimine nanoparticles.Results: Our results show that nonstimulated DM2 or DPN macrophages h