Abstract: Objective To investigate the relationship between the serum level of soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1(sVCAM-1) and soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1(sICAM-1) and the disease activity in systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE). Methods The serum concentrations of sVCAM-1 and sICAM-1 were measured by ELISA in 60 SLE patients and age- and sex-matched normal controls. Results ① Serum levels of sVCAM-1 and sICAM-1 were significantly increased in SLE patients compared with those in normal controls (P<0.001,both). ②Serum levels of sVCAM-1 and sICAM-1 were significantly higher in active SLE patients than those in inactive patients(P<0.001). And, serum levels of sVCAM-1 and sICAM-1 were significantly higher in the patients with proteinuria than those without proteinuria (P<0.001). ③Serum levels of sVCAM-1 and sICAM-1 were shown to have a negative correlation with serum level of C3 ; and a positive correlation with SLEDAI scores and serum level of anti-dsDNA. ④Serum levels of sVCAM-1 and sICAM-1 were higher before treatment than those after glucocorticoid treatment (P<0.05). Conclusions The results suggest that sVCAM-1 and sICAM-1 might play certain roles in the pathogenesis of SLE, and might be correlated with the disease activity.

Key words: Lupus erythematosus, systemic, Vascular cell adhesion molecule-1, Intercellular adhesion molecule-1