ABSTRACT
Cellular adhesion molecules have been demonstrated to play an important role in the progression and metastasis of malignancy. The aim of our study was to correlate the expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 [ICAM-1] in normal colonic tissues versus cancer tissues and its serum levels before treatment as well as the correlation of sICAM-1 before and after surgery and 6 cycles of chemotherapy and its relation to clinical staging and pathological grades in an attempt to find its role in diagnosis and prognosis of colon carcinoma. We investigated the immunohistochemical expression of adhesion molecule ICAM-1 in 30 primary colon carcinomas. The normal colonic tissue from the same patients served as tissue control. We studied the serum concentration of circulating ICAM-1 in these patients before and after surgery and 6 cycles of chemotherapy together with 30 controls. Strong to moderate immunostaining was found in cancerous cases and was restricted to intercellular matrix and vascular endothelial cells. ICAM-1 was more intense in well differentiated carcinomas. sICAM-1 levels were increased in all colon carcinoma before treatment compared to control and were directly proportional to the advancement of clinical stage and tumour pathological grade. sICAM-1 levels were significantly decreased after surgery and chemotherapy. Patients who did not respond to chemotherapy showed progressive increase in sICAM-1 level. Over expression of ICAM-1 might prevent cell-cell disruption and tumour dissemination. The serum level of sICAM-1 correlates well with the clinical stage and pathological grade of the disease and may be used to predict the patient response to treatment. It may be of diagnostic and prognostic significance in colon carcinoma