Elevated levels of soluble adhesion molecules (sCAMs); sE-Selectin, sICAM-1, and sVCAM-1 have been reported in various inflammatory and autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but not in cutaneous LE. 1.1.
Patients and methods: Sixty-nine serum samples from 51 LE patients, 24 with SLE, 19 with chronic cutaneous (DLE) and 8 with subacute cutaneous (SCLE) and sera from 32 controls were examined for sE-Selectin, sICAM-1 and sVCAM-1 using commercially available ELISA kits. Thirty serum samples from different time points were available from 12 LE patients. 1.2.
Results: Significantly elevated levels of sE-Selectin were found in DLE patients with wide-spread lesions. In contrast, patients with SLE and SCLE did not have elevated levels of sE-Selectin but in concordance with earlier reports, sICAM-1 and sVCAM-1 were elevated in these patients. In serial samples it seemed that sE-Selectin correlated significantly with active cutaneous skin lesions while sICAM-1 remained elevated irrespective of disease activity. 1.3.
Conclusion: Since activated endothelial cells are the only source for sE-Selectin, our results suggest a more important role of endothelial cells in cutaneous LE than has previously been assumed. Further it might be speculated that selective inhibition of E-Selectin could have therapeutic implication in cutaneous LE.