Nature Clinical Practice Nephrology | C-reactive protein is neither a marker nor a mediator of atherosclerosis

I just came across this interesting article in Nature Clinical Practice Nephrology explaining why CRP should be considered neither a marker nor a mediator of atherosclerosis.
Below is the abstract and link to the article (requires paid subscription)


Nature Clinical Practice Nephrology | C-reactive protein is neither a marker nor a mediator of atherosclerosis

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Nature Clinical Practice Nephrology (2008) 4, 234-235
doi:10.1038/ncpneph0778  
Received 26 November 2007 | Accepted 11 January 2008 | Published online: 4 March 2008

C-reactive protein is neither a marker nor a mediator of atherosclerosis

Mark B Pepys

Correspondence Centre for Amyloidosis and Acute Phase Proteins, Division of Medicine, Royal Free Campus, University College London, Rowland Hill Street, London NW3 2PF, UK

Email m.pepys@medsch.ucl.ac.uk

It is widely asserted that C-reactive protein (CRP) is a strong independent predictor of atherothrombotic events, and furthermore that CRP is also a pathogenic mediator of atherosclerosis. Here, the author, who first reported the predictive association of CRP with atherothrombotic events, attempts to correct these misapprehensions. He highlights the lack of a convincing association between CRP values and atherosclerosis burden, the fact that the association between baseline CRP values and coronary heart disease is substantially weaker than originally claimed, the nonspecificity of the CRP response and the flaws of cell culture studies with recombinant CRP.