CircuLex High-Sensitivity CRP ELISA Kit

C-Reactive protein (CRP) is a pentameric acute phase reactant that is synthesized by the liver. Its production is controlled primarily by interleukin-6. The serum CRP concentration may increase by up to 1000-fold with infection, ischemia, trauma, surgery, and other acute inflammatory events (1). Thus CRP can be used as an extremely sensitive systemic marker of inflammation. Especially in situations where microbiological diagnosis is difficult or too slow in the clinical context, CRP measurements can be used to infer the presence of bacterial infection (2). Ligand-bound or aggregated CRP binds C1q which then activates the classical complement pathway (3). Although primarily synthesized in hepatocytes, there is evidence for local expression of CRP in macrophages of the lung and the brain (4–6). In atherosclerotic plaques, it has been found to be associated with complement proteins and within foam cells (7, 8). A growing number of studies suggest that CRP is an independent risk factor for atherosclerotic vascular disease. Plasma CRP concentrations in the highest quartile are associated, depending on the subject group, with 1.5- to 7-fold increases in relative risk of symptomatic atherosclerosis (1, 9) The baseline plasma concentration of C-reactive protein predicts the risk of future myocardial infarction and stroke (10) and is associated with a poor prognosis in unstable angina (11–13). Plasma CRP levels are also strongly associated with obesity and obesity-related diseases, including insulin resistance, diabetes mellitus, and hyperlipidemia (14–17). Although a recent report indicated that the plasma CRP level decreased during weight reduction (17), the precise interaction of CRP with obesity has not been fully elucidated.