Vitreous levels of intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) as a risk indicator of proliferative vitreoretinopathy

To investigate whether high vitreous levels of the soluble intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (sICAM-1) may be related to clinical risk factors of proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) and whether their measurement may serve as an additional risk indicator of this complication in eyes with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD).

Levels of sICAM-1 were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) in vitreous from 36 eyes with RRD clinically considered to be at high risk of developing PVR (large retinal breaks, vitreous haemorrhage, long standing RRD, and previous vitreoretinal surgery). Levels of sICAM-1 in this group were compared with those in vitreous from 31 eyes with RRD without clinical risk factors for PVR, 32 eyes with established PVR and 10 eyes with macular holes.

Vitreous from eyes with RRD at high risk of developing PVR contained significantly higher levels of sICAM-1 (range 6.1-97.7 ng/ml; Mann-Whitney test, p=0.0002) than those from eyes with RRD at low risk of developing this complication (range 4.8-17.7 ng/ml). Vitreous sICAM-1 levels in eyes with RRD at high risk of developing PVR were significantly lower than in eyes with established PVR (p=0.037), but higher than in eyes with macular holes (p <0.0001). Levels of sICAM-1 >/=15 ng/ml (3 x median of the levels present in control eyes) provide a useful cut off point for a highly specific test (96.7%) with high positive (91.6%) and negative (96.7%) predictive values, despite a relatively low sensitivity (30. 5%).

The present findings suggest that laboratory measurement of sICAM-1 levels in vitreous from eyes with RRD may constitute an additional factor for identifying patients at high risk of PVR. Hence, determination of sICAM-1 levels may aid in the monitoring of patients likely to develop this complication and in the identification of patients who may benefit from adjuvant anti-inflammatory therapy.