Introduction:

Diabetics show decreased immune system function. Its most feared complication is the appearance of foot ulcers. Heberprot-P® has beneficial effects in healing these ulcers.

Objective:

To assess the effect of cellular immunity in the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers with Heberprot-P®.

Methods:

An observational, prospective, case series study was conducted in 30 patients with diabetic foot ulcer admitted to the National Institute of Angiology and Vascular Surgery. 75 μg of Heberprot-P®, three times a week, were administered through peri- and intralesional routes, during eight weeks. The variables age, sex, fasting blood glucose, creatinine, urea, uric acid, delayed hypersensitivity test, percentage of granulation, time of closure of the lesion and location of the ulcer, before starting treatment, at 4 and 8 weeks were evaluated.

Results:

A predominance of 60 % in females and white skin color were specified. Blood glucose and creatinine levels behaved higher in the anergics; urea was similar in both anergics and reagents; and uric acid was higher in reactive men and anergic women. There was a higher proportion of reagents (63.6 %), which in the fourth week presented a granulation tissue equal to or greater than 50%; and at the eighth week, it was equal to or greater than 70%.

Conclusions:

The condition of being reactive to delayed hypersensitivity tests in diabetic patients with diabetic foot ulcer of neuropathic type, treated with Heberprot-P® is directly associated with a better response in the healing of their lesions, through the formation of granulation tissue, which favors the total or partial closure of the lesion. This did not occur with patients who were anergic to this test.