Inflammatory markers: An Overview

Inflammation is the body’s innate response to injury or insult, including infection, trauma, surgery, burns, and cancer. Certain proteins are released into the bloodstream during inflammation; if their concentrations increase or decrease by at least 25%, they can be used as systemic inflammatory markers. Although there are many inflammatory markers, also known as acute phase reactants, those most commonly measured in clinical practice are C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and procalcitonin (PCT). PCT is a newer marker of inflammation that may, in certain cases, identify or exclude bacterial infections and guide antibacterial treatments, because these markers are nonspecific, the tests alone are not diagnostic for a particular condition, but they may help to identify a generalized inflammatory state along with other tests and aid in the differential diagnosis. In some diseases, serial measurements of CRP also may be of prognostic value. Other Inflammatory markers are; Interleukin-6 (IL-6), Interleukin 10 (IL-10), Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), Monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP1), C-reactive protein (CRP), Lipoprotein associated to phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2), Plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1), Lepitine, Cellular adhesion molecule (CAM).