BACKGROUND:

In relation to the different and important roles of the beta2 integrins, we have revisited the expression of polymorphonuclear leukocyte CD18 in several clinical disorders, at baseline and after in vitro activation.

SUBJECTS:

we have examined subjects with type 1 diabetes mellitus, vascular atherosclerotic disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus without and with macrovascular complications, chronic renal failure on conservative treatment, essential hypertension, deep venous thrombosis, acute ischemic stroke and subjects with venous leg ulcers.

METHODS:

unfractioned leukocyte suspension was prepared according to the Mikita’s method, while the leukocyte were separated into mononuclear and polymorphonuclear cells with a Ficoll-Hypaque medium. Using specific monoclonal antibody, the CD18 expression was evaluated with cytofluorimetric analysis, using FACScan (Becton Dickinson) be Cellquest software; the activation in vitro with PMA was effected according to modified Yasui and Masuda methods.

RESULTS:

in type 1 diabetes mellitus, at baseline CD18 is under expressed in comparison with normal control, and not changes after PMA activation were observed; in subjects with vascular atherosclerotic disease, in type 2 diabetes mellitus CD18 is over expressed at baseline but does not vary after activation; in subjects with chronic renal failure, essential hypertension and in subjects with acute ischemic stroke the CD18 up-regulate at baseline compared to normal control, and it increases further after activation; in subjects with deep venous thrombosis the CD18 expression is not different from control group at baseline, but it increases after activation; finally, in subjects with venous leg ulcers the CD18 is normally expressed at baseline, and it does not change after PMA activation.

CONCLUSIONS:

in the different clinical disorders, the trend of this integrin subunit provides some specific information, useful to select the best therapeutic strategy in clinical practice.