Increased levels of soluble ICAM-1 in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and resistant smokers are related to active smoking.

Serum ICAM-1 (sICAM-1) is known to be a smoking-associated inflammatory marker, but data in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are lacking. A total of 142 COPD cases (48 active smokers) and 55 controls (41 active smokers) were consecutively enrolled in this cross-sectional study. The peripheral blood concentrations of sICAM-1, IL-8 (CXCL8), CRP and serum amyloid A (SAA) were determined by ELISA. CRP and SAA (log-scale) were elevated in the patients with COPD compared with the control subjects (p = 0.005 for CRP and p = 0.024 for SAA). sICAM-1 was associated with active smoking when corrected for age, gender, the presence of COPD, inhaled corticosteroid use, BMI and forced expiratory volume in 1 s as covariates. The present study confirms an association between sICAM-1 levels and active smoking in a group of COPD and non-COPD active smokers.