Abstract: Objective  To investigate the serum level of intercellular adhesion molecule-1（ICAM-1） in patients with clonorchiasis, and the relationship between ICAM-1 and liver function.  Methods  Fifty untreated clonorchiasis patients and 20 normal controls were subjected in the present study. Plasma levels of total bilirubin（TBIL）, albumin （ALB） and alanine aminotransferase（ALT） were determined by automatic biochemical analyzer. The patients were divided into three experiment groups（Ⅰ, Ⅱ, and Ⅲ） by Child-Pugh classification. Serum level of sICAM-1 was determined by double-antibody sandwich ELISA. Radioimmunoassay was used to detect the content of interleukin-4（IL-4）, interleukin-6（IL-6） and tumor necrosis factor-α（TNF-α） in serum. LAL tripeptide substrate staining quantitative method was used to detect the level of bacterial lipopolysaccharide（LPS） in plasma.  Results  The level of sICAM-1, LPS, IL-4, IL-6, TNF-α, TBIL, and ALT ［（729.34±75.67） μg/ml, （0.18±0.08） Eu/ml, （3.46±0.38） ng/ml, （223.48±46.90） pg/ml, （1.39±0.62） ng/ml, （15.45±10.81） μmol/L, and （39.25±8.82）IU/L, respectively］ in serum or plasma of clonorchiasis patients were significantly higher than that of the control group ［（269.15±38.21） μg/ml, （0.07±0.03） Eu/ml, （0.74±0.22） ng/ml, （106.06±32.96） pg/ml, （0.56±0.14） ng/ml, （6.31±4.70） μmol/L, （18.43±9.81） IU/L］（P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）. Plasma level of ALB［（28.35±5.38） g/L］ was significantly lower than that of the control ［（39.43±7.91） g/L］（P＜0.05）. Correlation test showed that the sICAM-1 level in patients’ sera was positively correlated with TBIL， ALT, and LPS（r=0.662, 0.514, 0.499， P＜0.01）， while negatively correlated with ALB（r=-0.423， P<0.01）. IL-4 level did not correlate with liver function parameters（P>0.05）. According to the Child-Pugh classification, the more serious the liver function damaged, the higher level of  sICAM-1, LPS, IL-6 and TNF-α in the experiment groups. Significant differences were found between groups Ⅲ and Ⅰ（P<0.01）.  Conclusion  Higher serum levels of sICAM-1, LPS, IL-6, and TNF-α in patients with clonorchiasis take part in the process of liver injury induced by Clonorchis sinensis.

Key words: Clonorchiasis, Intercellular adhesion molecule-1, Cytokine, Endotoxin, Liver function