Serum soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1, interleukin-8 and interleukin-6 levels in patients with Behcet's disease

To investigate the levels of soluble intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (sICAM-1), interleukin 6 (IL-6) and interleukin 8 (IL-8) and their correlations with disease activity in Behcet's disease (BD), we measured the levels of sICAM-1, IL-6, IL-8, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and C-reactive protein (CRP) in 41 patients (22 men) with BD (19 active) and 20 healthy volunteers (12 men) as controls. The disease activity was evaluated by clinical manifestations (oral aphthous ulcer, genital ulceration, positive pathergy test, skin lesions and eye lesions) and by laboratory investigations (ESR and CRP). The levels of sICAM-1, IL-6, IL-8, ESR and CRP were higher in patients with BD than in controls. The mean levels of these parameters in patients with active BD were significantly higher than those in patients with inactive BD. The mean values were however higher in the inactive BD group than in controls. A significant positive correlation was found between sICAM-1 and CRP (r = 0.64, p < 0.001), sICAM-1 and ESR (r = 0.44, p < 0.01), sICAM-1 and IL-8 (r = 0.78, p < 0.001), sICAM-1 and IL-6 (r = 0.65, p < 0.001), IL-8 and CRP (r = 0.79, p < 0.001), IL-8 and ESR (r = 0.39, p < 0.05), and IL-6 and CRP (r = 0.52, p < 0.01). These data show that increases in sICAM-1, IL-6, ESR, CRP and IL-8 are present in patients with BD, that increases in sICAM-1 levels might be due to increased IL-6 and IL-8 levels, and that these soluble markers can be useful for evaluating the severity of BD.