title: Relationship between Leukopenia and Intercellular Adhesion Molecules in Graves' Disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Changes in soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) and E-selectin levels as well as leukocyte count were examined in this study to explore the relationship between leukopenia and ICAMs in Graves' disease (GD).
  
  
  METHODS
  Fasting blood samples were obtained from 37 GD patients with normal leukocytes and 32 GD patients with leukopenia. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was performed to determine serum sICAM-1 and E-selectin levels for comparison. The same analyses were repeated for the GD patients with leukopenia after glucocorticoid treatment (15 mg/day to 30 mg/day prednisone).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The ELISA results showed that E-selectin levels were higher in GD patients with leukopenia than those with normal leukocytes (p < 0.05), but these levels decreased after glucocorticoid (prednisone) treatment (p < 0.05). No significant change in sICAM-1 levels was observed (p = 0.12). Correlation analysis showed that leukocyte count and E-selectin were negatively correlated (r = -0.778; p < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  E-selectin may have an important function in GD with leukopenia, and glucocorticoids (prednisone) could decrease E-selectin level, which may be a new therapy target for GD with leukopenia.
authors: Department of Endocrinology, The Second People's Hospital of Lianyungang, Lianyungang 222000 China. yunminggao@126.com.
authors: Y
authors: Y
authors: Gao
authors: Department of Endocrinology, The Second People's Hospital of Lianyungang, Lianyungang 222000, China.
authors: H J
authors: HJ
authors: Shen
authors: Department of Endocrinology, The Second People's Hospital of Lianyungang, Lianyungang 222000, China.
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Zhou
authors: Department of Endocrinology, The Second People's Hospital of Lianyungang, Lianyungang 222000, China.
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Hu
authors: Department of Endocrinology, The Second People's Hospital of Lianyungang, Lianyungang 222000, China.
authors: J L
authors: JL
authors: Tang
authors: Department of Endocrinology, The Second People's Hospital of Lianyungang, Lianyungang 222000, China.
authors: L L
authors: LL
authors: Peng
authors: Department of Endocrinology, The Second People's Hospital of Lianyungang, Lianyungang 222000, China.
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Tong