Inflammatory markers

The inflammatory markers are a disparate set of biomarkers that are used clinically to assess a patient for:

• presence/absence of an active inflammatory disease process
• activity of a known disease

Possible disease processes may include infective, malignant and autoimmune diseases, although it is now recognized that these markers may be raised, often only mildly, in a broad spectrum of disease, from atherosclerosis to mental illness, because many diseases are now known/suspected to have an inflammatory component.

List of inflammatory markers

Traditionally the key inflammatory markers were :

• C-reactive protein (CRP)
• erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR): often plasma viscosity used instead

However other markers are also used, including:

• acute phase proteins (e.g. fibrinogen, ferritin)
• IL-6
• IL-10
• procalcitonin
• soluble IL-2 receptor
• tumor necrosis factor (TNF)

Elevated inflammatory markers

• infections
• inflammatory disease
• malignancy
• major depressive disorder
• myocardial infarction