Soluble Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 Concentrations in Patients with Subacute Thyroiditis and in Patients with Graves' Disease with or without Ophthalmopathy

Increased circulating soluble ICAM-1 (sICAM-1) levels has been previously reported in Graves' disease (GD) patients with or without ophthalmopathy (GO) and in patients with toxic nodular goiter but not in patients with subacute thyroiditis. Conflicting results have also been reported about the usefulness of sICAM-1 levels as a marker for the activity of hyperthyroidism. We have therefore determined sICAM-1 levels by a sandwich enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method in 10 patients with subacute thyroiditis (Group 1), who are at the initial or acute phase of thyroiditis, in 10 hypothyroidic patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis (Group 2), in 10 patients with euthyroid nodular goiter (Group 3), in 10 patients with untreated GD patients with active ophthalmopathy (Group 4), in 10 hyperthyroid GD patients without clinical ophthalmopathy (Group 5), in 10 patients with GO who are euthyroid and treated with glucocorticoids for 3 months (Group 6) and in 20 normal subjects (Control Group). Groups 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 (P