Objective. To study the possibility of using intercellular adhesion molecules (ICAM-1) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) as markers of lupus nephritis (LN) exacerbation and progression.

Materials and methods. The study group consisted of patients with SLE having LN (n = 23). The control group included patients with SLE lacking renal injuries (n = 13). The serum and urine ICAM-1 and VEGF molecules concentrations were determined by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Results. The serum ICAM-1 concentration in the LN patients was 822.41 (580.50; 1300.95) ng/ml being twice higher than in the control group (378.97 (356.47; 439.52) ng/ml). The serum VEGF molecule concentration in the LN group was 91.99 (74.18; 132.58) ng/ml i. e. three times higher than in the control group (31.13 (22.32; 132.58) ng/ml). The ROC analysis showed that the method for predicting the LN development in patients with SLE based on the determination of serum ICAM and VEGF molecules had high diagnostic sensitivity (82.61% and 80.00%) and specificity (83.33%). The AUC ratios were 0.927 (p = 0.0001) and 0.916 (p = 0.006), respectively.

Conclusion. The results suggest that the serum ICAM-1 and VEGF detection can be used as molecular markers of LN exacerbation and progression in patients with SLE.