CRP and COPD

I found this article to be very interesting as I currently work in research looking at the association between COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and CVD (cardiovascular disease). I found this article in the European Journal of Internal Medicine 19 (2008) 104–108.
Authors: Fisun Karadag, Sevin Kirdar, Aslihan B. Karul, Emel Ceylan

Title: The value of C-reactive protein as a marker of systemic inflammation in stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease


In this article the authors sought to evaluate circulating CRP levels in order to determine the value of CRPas a biomarker of systemic inflammation and as an indicator of malnutrition or severity of COPD in stable COPD patients in comparison to the proinflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-6.

The study consisted of 35 male patients with stable COPD and 30 age and sex matched controls with normal pulmonary function. Serum CRP, TNF-α, IL-6. levels were taken from the subjects. It was found that CRP levels were significantly higher in stable COPD subjects than in control subjects however, TNF-α and IL-6 were not significantly different. When BMI was taken into account then it was found that COPD subjects with low BMI had a higher serum CRP and TNF-α levels compared to COPD subjects with normal to high BMI.

The authors came to the conclusion that the present study confirms that because circulating CRP levels are higher in stable COPD patients this may be regarded as a valid biomarker of low-grade systemic inflammation. Also, because CRP and TNF-α were higher in the COPD patients with a low BMI then this could be considered an indicator of malnutrition in COPD patients.
The results of this study could be applied to the current study in which I am working looking at COPD and CVD. Using CRP as an indicator of low grade systemic inflammation could be utilized when we are looking at the occurrence of coronary calcium development in those with varying severity of COPD and outcomes such as stroke or heart attacks. Based on these results, I would expect those with lower COPD severity (goldstage 1) to still be at increased risk for heart attacks and stroke. This would be contradictory to the current notion that goldstage 1’s are not really COPD thus the lack of contribution to cardiovascular disease. The other results identifying higher CRP and TNF-α indicating malnutrition could e applicable to studies looking at muscle/tissue wasting in COPD subjects.