C-reactive protein (CRP) associated with risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, vascular mortality, and death from several cancers and lung disease

Associations of C-reactive protein (CRP) concentration with risk of major diseases can best be assessed by long-term prospective follow-up of large numbers of people.

This Lancet meta-analysis included records of 160,309 people without a history of vascular disease from 54 long-term prospective studies.

Risk ratios (RRs) were 1·23 for coronary heart disease; 1·32 for ischaemic stroke; 1·34 for vascular mortality; and 1·34 for non-vascular mortality.

CRP concentration has continuous associations with the risk of:

- coronary heart disease
- ischaemic stroke
- vascular mortality
- death from several cancers and lung disease

The relevance of CRP to such a range of disorders is unclear. Associations with ischaemic vascular disease depend considerably on conventional risk factors and other markers of inflammation.

Is is still a topic of debate is whether CRP has a causal role in the development of cardiovascular disease.

However, even if CRP might not be involved in the causal pathway of atherogenesis and plaque rupture, it may still be a valuable tool in cardiovascular medicine.

In primary prevention, lovastatin therapy was more cost effective in people with increased CRP concentrations.

The JUPITER trial recently showed that, in people with relatively normal LDL cholesterol concentrations and CRP higher than 2 mg/L, rosuvastatin reduced cardiovascular risk. Even if CRP turns out to be not directly causal in cardiovascular disease, it might be useful to identify individuals at cardiovascular risk and to evaluate the efficacy of our preventing and therapeutic interventions.

References:
C-reactive protein concentration and risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, and mortality: an individual participant meta-analysis. The Lancet, Volume 375, Issue 9709, Pages 132 - 140, 9 January 2010.
C-reactive protein and cardiovascular risk: more fuel to the fire. S Matthijs Boekholdt a b, John JP Kastelein b. The Lancet, Volume 375, Issue 9709, Pages 95 - 96, 9 January 2010.

C reactive protein concentration itself is unlikely to be even a modest causal factor in coronary heart disease - BMJ, 2011. http://goo.gl/d5lCH
Image source: C-reactive protein. Wikipedia, GNU Free Documentation License.

"Microscopic cancers are forming in human body all the time"

From TEDtalksDirector — May 17, 2010 - William Li presents a new way to think about cancer treatment: angiogenesis, targeting the blood vessels that feed a tumor. The crucial first (and best) step: Eating cancer-fighting foods that beat cancer at its own game.

"We're probably forming microscopic cancers all the time in our body. Autopsy studies from people who died in car accidents have shown that about 40 percent of women between the ages of 40 and 50 actually have microscopic cancers in their breasts. About 50 percent of men in their 50s and 60s have microscopic prostate cancers. And virtually 100 percent of us, by the time we reach our 70s, will have microscopic cancers growing in our thyroid. Yet, without a blood supply, most of these cancers will never become dangerous. Dr. Judah Folkman, who was my mentor, and who was the pioneer of the angiogenesis field, once called this "cancer without disease."