The vascular wall participates in the pathogenesis of sickle cell disease. To determine whether the endothelium is activated in this disease, we studied the number, origin, and surface phenotype of circulating endothelial cells in patients with sickle cell anemia.

We used immunohistochemical examination of buffy-coat smears to enumerate circulating endothelial cells, and we evaluated the surface phenotype by applying immunofluorescence microscopy to preparations of circulating endothelial cells. A panel of antibodies was used, including a specific anti–endothelial-cell antibody, P1H12.

Mean (±SD) numbers of circulating endothelial cells in normal blood donors, patients with sickle cell trait, and patients with hemolytic anemias not due to hemoglobin S were 2.6±1.6, 3.0±2.6, and 2.0±0.8 per milliliter of whole blood, respectively. Patients with sickle cell anemia who presented with acute painful episodes had 22.8±18.2 circulating endothelial cells per milliliter of blood (P<0.001 for the comparison with normal donors), and patients with no such events within one month before or after blood sampling had 13.2±11.8 circulating endothelial cells per milliliter of blood (P = 0.002 for the comparison with normal donors and P = 0.019 for the comparison with patients with acute events). Serial observations of three patients showed a tendency toward higher levels of circulating endothelial cells at the onset of acute painful crises. The average viability of circulating endothelial cells was 66±30 percent. In patients with sickle cell anemia, regardless of clinical status, the circulating endothelial cells were predominantly microvascular in origin (CD36-positive), and most of the cells expressed four markers of endothelial-cell activation: intercellular adhesion molecule 1, vascular-cell adhesion molecule 1, E-selectin, and P-selectin.

Our studies suggest that the vascular endothelium is activated in patients with sickle cell anemia, regardless of the patients' clinical status. Adhesion proteins on activated endothelial cells may have a role in the vascular pathology of sickle cell disease.