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(Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. 2005;25:1527.)
© 2005 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorials

CRP—Marker or Maker of Cardiovascular Disease?

Jan Nilsson

From the Department of Clinical Sciences, Malmö University Hospital, Lund University, Sweden.

Correspondence to Jan Nilsson, Department of Clinical Sciences, Entrance 33, 1^st floor, Malmoe University Hospital, S-205 02 Malmö, Sweden. E-mail jan.nilsson@medforsk.mas.lu.se

Key Words: inflammation • cardiovascular disease • complement • transgenic animals

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

C-reactive protein (CRP) has emerged as an interesting novel and potentially clinically useful marker for increased cardiovascular risk.^1,2 This is an attractive concept because atherosclerosis is a disease characterized by chronic arterial inflammation^3,4 and suggests the possibility that subclinical states of atherosclerosis can be identified by an increase in circulating markers of inflammation before acute events occur. Based on data obtained primarily from in vitro studies it has also been proposed that CRP in itself is actively contributing to disease progression and that it should be considered as true risk factor and consequently as a target for intervention. However, in the present issue of Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, two independent reports demonstrate that transgenic overexpression of CRP does not affect the development of atherosclerosis in mice, suggesting that this is not the case.

See pages 1635 and 1641

The association between moderately elevated CRP levels and an increased risk for development of cardiovascular disease is well established. Although the increase in risk may have been overestimated in initial studies, recent meta-analysis comprising >7000 patients with coronary events shows that subjects with CRP in the upper tertile have a 50% increased risk for development of acute cardiovascular events.² There are several possible explanations for this association (Figure). (1) The inflammatory process in arterial tissue affected by atherosclerosis results in release of cytokines into the circulation that subsequently activates expression of CRP in the liver. Plasma CRP levels would then reflect the severity of atherosclerosis and, as a . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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