Circulating soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 in lung cancer: a systematic review

Soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) has been implicated in tumor progression and metastasis. However the expression of circulating sICAM-1 as well as its diagnostic and prognostic value in patients with lung cancer remains controversial. We performed an electronic database (including PubMed, Web of Science, and Medline) search with the terms "ICAM", " intercellular adhesion molecule" and " lung cancer", and summarized the results of eligible studies in order to review the expression of sICAM-1 as well as its clinical significance in lung cancer. According to our literature search, we conducted a final analysis of 1258 patients from 16 studies. And we revealed that the circulating concentration of sICAM-1 in lung cancer patients was significantly higher than that in healthy controls. Additionally, baseline sICAM-1 levels apparently were associated with ECOG performance status, gender, histology type and disease stages. Furthermore, there seems to be a significantly inverse association between sICAM-1 levels, prognosis and response rate in NSCLC patients. In conclusion, sICAM-1 appeared to be a potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarker in lung cancer patients. Additional prospective studies are required to confirm this issue.