Adhesion molecules of immunoglobulin gene superfamily in stroke.

Stroke-induced inflammatory reaction leads to the accumulation of leukocytes in the brain ischaemic region, where they exert a detrimental effect--promotion and extension of cerebral damage. Intracerebral infiltration of peripheral blood leukocytes requires prior endothelial-leukocyte interactions that are mediated by such cell surface proteins as adhesion molecules. Among adhesion molecules, it is the immunoglobulin gene superfamily (IgSF) that is responsible for strong attachment and transendothelial migration of leukocytes. The principal members of IgSF are: intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) and platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (PECAM-1). In this review the following issues were described and discussed: an increased expression of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 in ischaemic brain as well as a detection of their soluble(s) forms in sera of stroke victims. The presented data suggest the involvement of both ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 in the sequence and timing of the infiltration of leukocytes into the brain ischaemic zone after stroke. They have also revealed changes in serum concentrations of sICAM-1 and sVCAM-1 that are characteristic for stroke. Recently, increase in sPECAM-1 levels in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) has been shown within 24 h of the onset of stroke, having indirectly suggested involvement of the molecule in the inflammatory events during the early phase of stroke.