Blood Protein Gives Early Warning for Heart Disease
 (HealthDayNews, 9/20/04)

For 12 months Dr. Juan Carlos Kaski of St. George's Hospital Medical School in London, and team, used angiograms to monitor the arteries of 124 heart patients. The researchers found that inflammatory cell activity and blood levels of inflammatory markers, including C-reactive protein (CRP), were strongly associated with arterial blockage. These results are consistent with the fact that traditional cardiovascular risk factors—like smoking, hypertension, obesity and high cholesterol—all have an inflammatory component. Furthermore, these findings suggest that testing blood levels of CRP, a protein produced by the liver in response to inflammation anywhere in the body, may predict cardiovascular risk and that treatments that reduce inflammation may promote arterial health.

(Circulation, September 2004).