CRP Is Not a Villain, Merely a ‘Biomarker’ or Signal

Increased blood levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) are linked with increased risks of coronary artery disease and stroke, as well as with conditions of inflammatory changes in the body. Not surprisingly, it has been questioned whether a raised CRP causes coronary artery disease. A study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine seems to have laid this idea to rest.

Danish physicians started from the premise that people with different genetic makeup are naturally likely to have different levels of CRP. So they genetically tested 50,000 people to see if those with higher CRP levels had higher risks of heart disease. They found that the risk of coronary heart disease and ischemic cerebrovascular disease (the predecessor of stroke) were 1.6 and 1.3 times, respectively, in those persons with a CRP above 3 mg/L, compared with those whose CRP was below 1 mg/L. And in those persons with lifelong high levels of CRP due to genetic variations, where the theoretical increased risk of coronary heart disease and ischemic cerebrovascular disease would be increased up to 32% and 25%, respectively, there was no actual increased risk of vascular disease. This study has sufficient numbers to refute the concept that raised CRP levels cause coronary artery disease or ischemic cerebrovascular disease. This is important, as at least two pharmaceutical companies are working on a CRP-inhibitor or blocker (Isis Pharmaceuticals and Takeda/Millenium). It would seem they are ‘barking up the wrong tree’ – but we’ve been wrong before.