Abstract: Objective To investigate the changes of serum levels of soluble intercellular adhesion molecule 1(sICAM 1) and soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (sVCAM 1) in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM).Methods Serum levels of sICAM 1,sVCAM 1 were measured with ELISA in 18 cases of type 1 diabetic patients,47 cases of type 2 diabetic patients and 20 cases of healthy subjects.Results ①The serum levels of sICAM 1 and sVCAM 1 in type 1 and type 2 diabetic patients were much higher than those in healthy controls respectively ( P <0 05~0.01),serum levels of sICAM 1 and sVCAM 1 in type 2 diabetic patients with microangiopathy were much higher than those in type 2 patients without microangiopathy ( P <0 05~0.01),there was no difference in serum sICAM 1 and sVCAM 1 between type 1 diabetic patients and type 2 diabetic patients;②Serum levels of sVCAM 1 in type 2 diabetic patients with hypertriglyceridemia (group A),hypertriglyceridemia complicating hypertension (group B) was much higher than those in type 2 diabetic patients with hypertension (group C),with normal triglyceridemia and normal blood pressure (group D) respectively ( P <0 05),③Serum levels of sICAM 1 in type 1 and type 2 diabetic patients had positive correlation with serum levels of sVCAM 1 ( r =0.83, r =0.53, P <0 01).Conclusion ①The elevation of serum levels sVCAM 1 in type 2 diabetic patients is related to hypertriglyceridemia;②Serum sICAM 1 and sVCAM 1 might participate in the course of diabetic microangiopathy.Serum levels of sICAM 1 and sVCAM 1 are the useful markers in reflecting disease evolution in diabetes mellitus.