CIRCULATING CELL-ADHESION MOLECULES ARE CORRELATED WITH ULTRASOUND-BASED ASSESSMENT OF CAROTID ATHEROSCLEROSIS

Although cellular adhesion molecules (CAMs) are hypothesized to play a n important role in atherogenesis, the relationship between CAMs and s ystemic atherosclerosis is uncertain. Among 92 outpatients (48 men; me an+/-SD age, 65+/-9 years), we evaluated the association of soluble va scular CAM-1 (sVCAM-1) and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) with carotid intimal-medial thickness (IMT), an index of early athero sclerosis. All subjects underwent a 2-dimensional ultrasound examinati on of both carotid arteries at the distal common carotid arteries and bifurcation. sVCAM-1 and sICAM-1 levels measured by enzyme-linked immu nosorbent assay were significantly correlated with mean IMT of the com mon carotid artery (r=0.34 and r=0.30, respectively; P<0.01) and carot id bifurcation (r=0.31 and r=0.26, respectively; P<0.05), whereas sVCA M-1 was also positively associated with maximal carotid IMT (r=0.35, P <0.01). Adjustment for age attenuated the association between sVCAM-1 and common (r=0.16, P=0.13) and bifurcation (r=0.18, P=0.07) carotid I MT but had minimal effect on the associations between sICAM-1 and caro tid measurements (r=0.32, P<0.01; r=0.23, P<0.05; for common and bifur cation IMT, respectively). Age-adjusted sICAM-1 levels increased in a stepwise fashion across common carotid IMT tertiles (253+/-27 versus 2 75+/-24 versus 384+/-26 pg/mL for the lowest, intermediate, and highes t IMT tertiles, respectively; P<0.01). A similar trend was also found between sVCAM-1 levels and common carotid IMT tertiles (625+/-60 versu s 650+/-53 versus 714+/-58 pg/mL; P<0.15). These associations were min imally affected in analyses adjusting for hypertension, diabetes, smok ing, low and high density lipoprotein cholesterol, lipoprotein(a), and homocysteine, or in a subgroup analysis limited to those with no prio r history of atherothrombotic disease. These data demonstrate a positi ve association between serum CAMs with carotid IMT and further support the hypothesis that systemic inflammation may have a role in atherosc lerotic lesion development.