title: CCL5/RANTES, sVCAM-1, and sICAM-1 in chronic spontaneous urticaria.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Chronic urticaria (CU) is a common disease characterized by recurrent itchy wheals and/or angioedema for more than 6 weeks. We aimed to investigate the potential involvement of chemotactic mediators and soluble adhesion molecules as markers of endothelial dysfunction in the pathogenesis of chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU). The potential relevance of these soluble mediators in the evaluation of disease activity was also investigated.
  
  
  METHODS
  We measured the levels of CCL5/RANTES, CXCL8/IL-8, sVCAM-1, and sICAM-1 in the sera of 87 patients with CSU and 61 normal healthy subjects (NHS) using ELISA assays. According to the results of autologous serum skin tests (ASST), CSU patients were classified into ASST-positive and ASST-negative subgroups. Furthermore, we investigated in 4 patients whether H₁-antihistamine therapy decreases sVCAM-1 and sICAM-1 levels.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We detected a significantly higher concentration of CCL5/RANTES (p < 0.0001) but not of CXCL8/IL-8 in CSU patients compared to NHS. The serum levels of sICAM-1 and sVCAM-1 were significantly increased in CSU patients compared to NHS (p = 0.0121 and p = 0.0043, respectively). No difference in chemokine or soluble adhesion molecule levels was detected between the ASST-positive and ASST-negative subgroups. A positive correlation was found between sICAM-1 and sVCAM-1 (p = 0.0022) but not between these and CCL5/RANTES. After H₁-antihistamine therapy, sVCAM-1 and sICAM-1 levels did not decrease in the 4 CSU patients tested.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study suggests that CCL5/RANTES, sICAM-1, and sVCAM-1 play a potential role in the pathogenesis of CSU but they do not parallel disease activity and are not predictive of the response to H₁-antihistamine therapy.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Immunology Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Ilaria
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Puxeddu
authors.forename: Filomena
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Panza
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pratesi
authors.forename: Debora
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bartaloni
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Casigliani Rabl
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Rocchi
authors.forename: Isabella
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Del Corso
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Migliorini
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D018946:Chemokine CCL5 / Q000097:blood*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018799:Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 / Q000097:blood*; D016209:Interleukin-8 / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014581:Urticaria / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D019010:Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 / Q000097:blood*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C483024:CCL5 protein, human; D018946:Chemokine CCL5; D016209:Interleukin-8; D019010:Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1; D018799:Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1