Blood biochemistry: C-reactive protein

• C-reactive protein (CRP) is a positive acute phase protein released as part of the acute phase response following tissue injury.
• The acute phase response is highly non-specific but helps to limit tissue damage and promote healing following trauma, infection or inflammation.
•  The concentration of CRP increases dramatically within 24 h of inflammation or tissue damage.
• The magnitude of the increase reflects the intensity of the inflammation.
• CRP decreases rapidly again following successful management of the underlying inflammatory process.

Uses

Alone

• CRP is non-specific and will be increased in a wide variety of disease processes. An increase in CRP does provide evidence of an inflammatory process, but cannot be used to determine a specific cause.

In combination

• To confirm or exclude the presence of inflammation associated with various disease processes.

Treatment monitoring

• Sequential CRP measurements can be used to help evaluate response to therapy.
• This may be one of the most useful practical applications of CRP.