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C-reactive protein and the biology of disease

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Abstract

The C-reactive protein (CRP) is a plasma protein of hepatic origin, belonging to pentraxin family and forms a major component of any inflammatory reaction. A key component of the innate immunity pathway, the concentration of CRP may rapidly increase to levels more than 1,000-folds above normal values as a consequence to tissue injury or infection. Although functioning as a classical mediator of innate immunity, it functions via interaction of components of both humoral and cellular effector systems of inflammation. Initially considered as an acute-phase marker in tissue injury, infection and inflammation, it now has a distinct status of a disease marker in cardiovascular diseases and is well known of its clinical and pathological significance. The present torrent of studies in a large number of diseases and associated conditions has highly elucidated the role of CRP as a therapeutic and research reagent. In this review, we focus our attention to role of CRP in health and disease. The future prospect of this review lies in the applicability of CRP as a molecule in understanding and monitoring of the biology of disease.

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Acknowledgments

Both authors express gratitude to the Institutions School of Biological sciences, NISER, Bhubaneswar and Asutosh College, Kolkata for providing the infrastructure for the study. They express their gratitude to Dr. Chitra Mandal, outstanding Scientist, Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, CSIR, India for her guidance and support during their Ph.D.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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  1. Post Graduate Department, Asutosh College, 92, Syamaprosad Mookerjee Road, Kolkata, 700026, India

    Waliza Ansar

  2. School of Biological Sciences, National Institute of Science, Education and Research, (NISER), Institute of Physics Campus, Sachivalaya Marg, PO Sainik School, Bhubaneswar, 751 005, India

    Shyamasree Ghosh

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Ansar, W., Ghosh, S. C-reactive protein and the biology of disease. Immunol Res 56, 131–142 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12026-013-8384-0

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