SOLUBLE INTERCELLULAR ADHESION MOLECULE-1 (sICAM-1) AFTER KIDNEY TRANSPLANTATION: THE ORIGIN AND ROLE OF URINARY sICAM-1?1

Abstract

Increased urinary excretion of sICAM-1 was demonstrated in kidney transplanted patients a few days before acute rejection. It seems to originate from activated macrophages and/or from the tubular epithelial cells. The fact that urinary sICAM-1 is not bound to hyaluronan or to leukocytes suggests that it is not able to compete with membrane-bound ICAM-1 for these bindings, but may do so for the binding of activated macrophages.