This prospective cross-sectional study attempted to determine both the usefulness of the serum intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) as a biomarker for pulmonary artery hypertension secondary to congenital heart disease and the nature of this marker's association with catheter angiographic findings.Our C ongenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common congenital malformation: the prevalence of moderate and severe forms of CHD is about 6 in 1,000 live births, or 19 in 1,000 live births if potentially serious cases of bicuspid aortic valve are included.1 Pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH) is a frequent complication of CHD, particularly in patients who have left-to-right shunts.2 Pulmonary artery hypertension has been defined as an increase in mean pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) of ≥25 mmHg at rest, as evaluated by right-sided heart catheterization.
3Pulmonary artery hypertension has a multifactorial pathogenesis that involves various biochemical pathways and cell types. The increase in pulmonary vascular resistance is related to different mechanisms, including vasoconstriction, proliferative and obstructive remodeling of the pulmonary vessel wall, inflammation, and thrombosis. Persistent exposure of the pulmonary vasculature to increased blood flow and pressure can result in endothelial dysfunction and endothelial damage.2 After such damage, endothelial cells produce an array of cytokines and growth factors and promote immune cells to adhere to and migrate through the vessel wall into the extravascular space. Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) are expressed on endothelial cells. When overexpressed on the activated endothelial layer, VCAM-1 and ICAM-1 undergo shedding, and their soluble forms (detectable in serum) are considered to be markers of endothelial cell activity or injury. 5,6 In the medical literature, 7-9 elevated serum concentrations of adhesion molecules have been detected in several diseases, such as diabetes mellitus, coronary heart disease, atherosclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis. Sungprem and colleagues 10 showed that serum ICAM-1 level was increased in patients with PAH.