Circulating soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 in type C viral hepatitis

Backgound/Aims: Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) is one of the members of the immunoglobulin supergene family; it expresses in response to inflammatory mediators and activation. Circulating soluble ICAM-1 (sICAM-1) Levels in. acute and chronic viral hepatitis C virus infection were studied. Materials and Methods: Thirty blood samples front 10 patients with acute hepatitis C, and 36 blood samples from 25 patients with chronic hepatitis C were compared with those from 10 healthy volunteers, using the enzyme immunoassay method. Results: The mean circulating sICAM-1 activities in healthy volunteers was 339+/-93 ng/ml. Maximum values of sICAM-1 activities in acute (1394+/-502 ng/ml, P=0.004) and chronic (662+/-477 ng/ml, P=0.047) hepatitis C were increased. Acute hepatitis had a higher maximum circulating sICAM-1 activity, than chronic hepatitis (P=0.009). Longitudinal circulating sICAM-1 activities roughly correlated with the serum aminotransferase (ALT) activities. In acute viral hepatitis C, three patients developed an increase in circulating sICAM-1 activities before the manifestation of abnormal ALT activity. Circulating sICAM-1 activities showed a positive correlation with serum ALT activities (P<0.001) and serum total bilirubin levels (P=0.001) and a negative correlation with serum albumin levels (P=0.01). Conclusions: The present study suggested that ICAM-1 plays a role in the hepatocellular injury during viral hepatitis C infection.