Objective. Rheumatoid arthritis is a potentially severe and disability-related disease and therefore great effort is exerted to find reliable predictive markers of the disease. Recently the interaction of adhesion molecules ICAM-1 or VCAM-1 on the surface of mesenchymal cells with T-cell integrins was shown to activate expression of gelatinases. The extracellular matrix of affected joints is degraded by gelatinases. Methods. Serum levels of ICAM-1, VCAM-1, gelatinase A and B were measured in 60 patients with early rheumatoid arthritis and correlated with CRP values, DAS scores, and with radiographic impairment assessed by Larsen score. The levels of sICAM-1, sVCAM-1, both of the gelatinases and CRP were evaluated every six months and DAS score value and Larsen score every twelve months over a period of two years of follow up. Results. The sICAM-1 levels correlated with sVCAM-1 (0.3147

        Key words: rheumatoid arthritis, adhesion molecules, gelatinases