Inflammation and Inflammatory Diseases, Markers, and Mediators: Role of CRP in Some Inflammatory Diseases

The knowledge of inflammation records dates back in first century AD. Initially discovered with features of rubor, tumor, calor, and dolor, scientific investigations have revealed chemical components, cells, and pathways involved in the process of inflammation. The body’s initial defense in response to infection, trauma, or inflammation is through the acute-phase response (APR). APR is a multifaceted set of systemic reactions seen shortly after the experience of a triggering event. One of the many aspects of an APR is the increased hepatic synthesis of positive acute-phase proteins (APPs) leading to increased serum concentration of these proteins. The serum level of these APPs returns to base concentration when the stimulating factor is not anymore present. Today a plethora of inflammatory diseases are causing concern to global health. All the key players and mediators of inflammation change its role with the change in setup of disease and patients. The biomarkers of inflammation and inflammatory mediators are also used as therapeutic targets in under-trial animal models. Even in clinical diagnosis of an inflammatory patient, some broad-spectrum markers were analyzed without individual dissection of each mediator or biomarker. This chapter also provides a review of the acute-phase protein C-reactive protein and its possible use as inflammatory biomarker in diseases. We have highlighted case studies of some patients from Kolkata, India, revealing inflammation from disease together with their clinical history. The question which we probe in here is that whether there is a correlation with the clinical history, C-reactive protein, and inflammation and whether CRP can act as a unique diagnostic and prognostic biomarker in some diseases. The future course of this chapter lies in identifying clinical markers for inflammation, the sequential flow of inflammatory responses for a wide spectrum of diseases and its diagnostic, and therapeutic application to screen out pro-inflammatory diseases vs. anti-inflammatory conditions.