Genetics of C-reactive protein: new possibilities and complications.

The role of inflammation in cardiovascular disease has gained enormous interest in recent years, to a significant extent as a consequence of the ease with which the acute phase protein C-reactive protein (CRP) can be assessed as a marker of inflammation. More recently, CRP has not only to be considered a marker, but also a potential participant in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease, and various roles in cellular activation and in inflammatory processes have been proposed.1