Serum levels of soluble adhesion molecules ICAM-1, VCAM-1 and E-selectin in patients with Wegener's granulomatosis.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the role of soluble intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (sICAM-1), soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (sVCAM-1), and soluble E-selectin (sE-selectin) in the pathogenesis of Wegener's granulomatosis (WG) and the values of measuring serum levels of these soluble adhesion molecules for monitoring disease activity during follow-up, a total of 24 serum samples from 16 patients with WG were studied.


METHODS
The serum concentrations of soluble adhesion molecules (sICAM-1, sVCAM-1 and sE-selectin) and cytokines (tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-6 (IL-6)) of patients with WG were measured by ELISA.


RESULTS
The serum levels of sICAM-1 were significantly elevated in active WG and correlated with disease activity. At the time of relapse, a significant increase of sICAM-1 was also observed. The serum levels of TNF-alpha and IL-6 were also significantly elevated in active WG.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that sICAM-1 plays an important role in the pathogenesis of WG and may be used as an additional parameter of disease activity.
Ohta
N
N
Department of Otolaryngology, Yamagata University School of Medicine 2-2-2, Iida-nishi, 990-9585, Yamagata, Japan. noohta@med.id.yamagata-u.ac.jp
Fukase
S
S
Aoyagi
M
M
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D019040:E-Selectin / Q000097:blood*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D014890:Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D018799:Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 / Q000097:blood*; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism; D019010:Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 / Q000097:blood*
D019040:E-Selectin; D015850:Interleukin-6; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D019010:Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1; D018799:Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1