Are elevated levels of soluble ICAM-1 a marker of chronic graft disease inheart transplant recipients?

Positivity for circulating intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) in he art transplant recipients has been claimed to predict the development of co ronary artery disease and risk of graft failure. Soluble ICAM-1 were evalua ted in 32 heart transplant recipients. Five of these patients, who had unde rgone transplantation several years before, were positive for soluble ICAM- 1 but did not present any clinical sign of graft rejection. Furthermore, al though heart graft coronary disease was diagnosed in 15 of the 32 patients, they did not show significantly higher titres of soluble ICAM-1 compared t o the remaining patients. These findings suggest that major caution is nece ssary when considering ICAM-1 positivity as a marker of graft disease. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.