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Monomeric CRP is Elevated in Patients with COPD Compared to Non-COPD Control Persons
Revathy Munuswamy1, Jana De Brandt2, Chris Burtin2
1Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Biomedical Research Institute BIOMED, Hasselt University, Hasselt, Belgium.
Abstract:
Chronic low-grade systemic inflammation is frequently observed in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), e.g., elevated pentameric CRP (pCRP). However, pCRP can dissociate to form monomeric CRP (mCRP) which exhibits a clear pro-inflammatory behaviour in contrast to the more anti-inflammatory properties of pCRP. Therefore, mCRP may be an informative biomarker to demonstrate chronic low-grade systemic inflammation. This was confirmed by analysing serum samples from 38 patients with COPD and 18 non-COPD control persons (NCCP). mCRP was significantly elevated in patients with COPD vs. NCCP, indicating that mCRP might be considered as a new sensitive marker of chronic low-grade systemic inflammation.
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