VCAM1 and infection: During infection, the endothelium becomes activated, resulting in the loss of barrier function, expression of adhesion molecules, such as soluble ICAM-1 (intercellular adhesion molecule 1) and soluble VCAM-1 (vascular cell adhesion molecule 1), release of VWF (which allows platelet binding), the expression of TF (which activates the coagulation system) [1,23,34,35,36,37,73].