INCREASED LEVELS OF CIRCULATING INTERCELLULAR-ADHESION MOLECULE-1 IN MULTIPLE-SCLEROSIS AND HUMAN T-LYMPHOTROPIC VIRUS TYPE-I ASSOCIATED MYELOPATHY

We evaluated the presence of soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) antigen in the sera of patients with multiple sclerosis and human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-I)-associated myelopathy (HAM ) using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Patients with multiple s clerosis in the active phase had higher sICAM serum levels than did co ntrol subjects (p < 0.01). In addition, a significantly increased seru m level of sICAM-1 was found in patients with HAM (p < 0.001). Further more, we found a positive correlation with HAM sICAM-1 and tumor necro sis factor-alpha levels in the sera of patients with multiple sclerosi s in the active phase (r = 0.88, p < 0.01) and in those with HAM (r = 0.86, p < 0.0 1). These results suggest that serum sICAM-1 may be rela ted to clinical activity in patients with multiple sclerosis and the d etection of sICAM-1 could be useful as a marker of inflammatory diseas e.