Biomark. Med. (Epub ahead of print) ISSN 1752-0363 part of Research Article 10.2217/bmm-2016-0053 © Joanna Banach Background: Melanoma cell adhesion molecule (MCAM) is a marker of endothelial damage. MCAM diagnostic and prognostic value was assessed in chronic heart failure (CHF). Materials & methods: 130 CHF patients and 32 controls were included in the study. Telephone follow-up lasted one year. End points were: death from all causes, and hospitalization with CHF exacerbation. Results: MCAM was higher in patients than in controls (p = 0.01). Receiver operator curve analysis revealed that MCAM may serve as a predictor of death (area under the curve: 0.8404; p < 0.002). Patients with MCAM above 500 ng/ml had worse prognosis (p = 0.03). NT-proBNP and age were independent predictors of death in multivariate analysis. Conclusion: The increased MCAM indicates endothelial damage in CHF and may serve as a marker of worse prognosis in these patients. First draft submitted: 28 February 2016; Accepted for publication: 22 April 2016; Published online: 29 June 2016 Keywords:฀chronic฀heart฀failure฀•฀melanoma฀cell฀adhesion฀molecule฀•฀prognosis Melanoma cell adhesion molecule (MCAM), also known as cluster of differentiation mole- cule 146 (CD 146), is a glycoprotein belong- ing to the immunoglobulin superfamily. MCAM was first observed on malignant melanoma cells, specifically those within metastatic lesions [1] . It is mostly expressed on a cell surface, however, it has also been found within cytoplasm and at the cell–cell junctions [2,3] . In normal human tissues the expression of MCAM is limited mainly to endothelium, where it is concentrated at the intercellular junctions [4] , but it may also be encountered on smooth muscle cells, neurons and in embryonal tissues [5] . MCAM, with its constitutional expression on endothelium, is also widely used to detect and isolate circu- lating endothelial cells (CEC), which serve as a marker of endothelial damage, observed in numerous pathological conditions includ- ing inflammatory [6,7] , infectious [8] , neo- plastic [9] and cardiovascular disorders [10,11] . Heart failure was found to be associated with increased amount of CEC reflecting extensive endothelial damage [12] . Some authors sug- gest that endothelial abnormalities encoun- tered in heart failure patients may contribute to the elevated thrombotic risk and influence prognosis in this population [13] . Currently used methods of CEC quantification based on immunomagnetic isolation, flow cytom- etry or fluorescence-activated cell sorting are technically complex, expensive and time con- suming. It has been reported that MCAM in its soluble form found in plasma serves as a surrogate marker of circulating endothelial cells [14] . The expression of MCAM on cir- culating endothelial cells and the observed correlation between its plasma concentra- tion and conservatively measured CEC led to the assumption that soluble MCAM may be used as the equivalent of CEC. We Melanoma cell adhesion molecule as an emerging biomarker with prognostic significance in systolic heart failure Joanna Banach* ,1 , Magdalena Grochowska 1 , Lidia Gackowska 2 , Katarzyna Buszko 3 , Robert Bujak 1 , Wojciech Gilewski 1 , Izabela Kubiszewska 2 , Lukasz Wolowiec 1 , Jacek Michalkiewicz 2 & Wladyslaw Sinkiewicz 1 1 IInd฀Clinic฀of฀Cardiology,฀Colegium฀ Medicum฀of฀Nicolaus฀Copernicus฀ University฀in฀Bydgoszcz,฀University฀ Hospital฀nr฀2฀in฀Bydgoszcz,฀Poland 2 Department฀of฀Immunology,฀Collegium฀ Medicum฀of฀Nicolaus฀Copernicus฀ University฀(NCU)฀in฀Bydgoszcz,฀Poland 3 Department฀of฀Theoretical฀Foundations฀ of฀Biomedical฀Sciences฀&฀Medical฀ Informatics,฀Colegium฀Medicum฀of฀ Nicolaus฀Copernicus฀University฀in฀ Bydgoszcz,฀Poland *Author฀for฀correspondence:฀ Tel.:/Fax:฀+48฀523฀655฀653฀ joannna@op.pl For reprint orders, please contact: reprints@futuremedicine.com