Clinical Significance

C-reactive protein (CRP) is an acute phase response protein synthesized by hepatocytes when the body is subjected to inflammatory stimuli such as microbial invasion or tissue damage. CRP increases within hours of the onset of inflammation, peaks within 48 hours, and returns to normal levels as the lesions resolve and tissue, structure, and function recover. This response is not affected by radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and corticosteroid therapy. Therefore, the detection of CRP has a wide range of clinical applications, including the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of acute infectious diseases, the monitoring of postoperative infection, the observation of antibiotic efficacy, the detection of the course of disease, and the judgment of prognosis.
The degree of CRP elevation reflects the size or activity of inflammatory tissue, and CRP correlates well with disease activity during acute inflammation and infection. This condition is not consistent with chronic inflammation, although in some important conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, and polymyalgia rheumatica, this correlation is sufficient for therapeutic monitoring. A persistently elevated CRP value indicates no improvement in inflammation and is often evidence of treatment failure and poor prognosis. Such as malignant disease, infection and myocardial infarction.

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