Journal of neurotrauma
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Journal of neurotrauma · Jun 1998
Soluble ICAM-1 in CSF coincides with the extent of cerebral damage in patients with severe traumatic brain injury.
The intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) expressed by endothelial cells is crucial in promoting adhesion and transmigration of circulating leukocytes across the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Migrated immunocompetent cells, in turn, release mediators that stimulate glial and endothelial cells to express ICAM-1 and release cytokines, possibly sustaining cerebral damage. Following activation, proteolytic cleavage of membrane-anchored ICAM-1 results in measurable levels of a soluble form, sICAM-1. ⋯ In addition, overall analysis showed that sICAM-1 in CSF correlated with the extent of BBB damage as indicated by the QA (r = 0.76; p < 0.001). These results suggest that increased sICAM-1 levels in CSF might depict ongoing immunologic activation and that sICAM-1 correlates with the extent of tissue and BBB damage. The origin of soluble ICAM-1 in CSF and its pathophysiologic role after TBI remains to be clarified.