ABSTRACT
Chronic liver disease is a major public health problem in Egypt. Circulating soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 [sICAM-l] may serve as an indirect consequence of inflammation and tissue damage. The present study was done on 76 patients with chronic viral hepatitis disease selected from Tropical Medicine Department, Ain Shams University Hospital. Patients comprised 51 males and 25 females with mean age 49 +/- 11.6 years. Fourteen apparently healthy adults with matched age and sex were also tested as a control group. Hepatitis B surface antigen, antibodies to hepatitis C and sICAM-1 were measured using ELISA technique. Estimation of liver profile parameters was also done. SICAM-l was found to he highly significantly increased in patients with chronic liver disease when compared with controls [1122.1 +/- 330.0 versus 647.3 +/- 191.2, p < 0.001]. SICAM-l was significantly correlated with AST, alkaline phosphatase, direct and total bilirubin, albumin and prothrombin time. On comparing compensated and decompensated chronic hepatitis patients, there was a significant increase in sICAM-l in decompensated patients [1198 +/- 316.8 versus 1053.7 +/- 330.6, p < 0.05]. This result indicates a positive correlation between sICAM-l and the degree of severity of liver inflammation. In addition, sICAM-l was significantly increased in chronic hepatitis patients with concomitant bilharziasis than those having only chronic hepatitis. [1223.5 +/- 354.3 and 1056.0 +/- 298.8 in bilharzial and non bilharzial patients respectively, p< 0.05]. From the present study we conclude that slCAM-1 exhibits more significant correlation with the degree of severity of liver pathology than transaminases. The measurement of sICAM-l may complement the information regarding histological grading and staging of chronic hepatitis, providing a more reliable and non-invasive method to follow up chronic liver disease