CRP genetic variants crucial in interpreting inflammatory disease activity
Tuesday, September 21, 2010 - 17:21
in Health & Medicine
CRP is commonly used as a serum marker for inflammation or infection, but the genetic effects of CRP variants on acute-phase serum CRP concentrations in patients with rheumatoid arthritis may be large enough to have a clinically relevant impact on the assessment of inflammatory disease activity, which in turn may influence therapeutic decision making. Furthermore, failure to take into account the potential for genetic effects may result in the inappropriate reassurance or under-treatment of patients simply because they carry low-CRP associated genetic variants. These are the results of a study by Timothy Vyse from Imperial College London, UK, and colleagues, and published in this week's PLoS Medicine.
