C Reactive Protein ~ HGH Academy

Researchers at University of California at San Diego (UCSD) found that a particular C-reactive protein (CRP) binds to oxidized low density lipoprotein (LDL), thus implicating the interaction of CRP and oxidized LDL as a potential trigger for the cascade of events leading to atherosclerosis. This form of artery disease is characterized by the buildup of fatty deposits and chronic inflammation along the artery wall, eventually leading to heart attack.

The study by the UCSD researchers pinpoints how CRP attaches itself to oxidized LDL, which accumulates in the artery wall , initiating a cascade of events leading to the generation of atherosclerotic plaques. LDL is a carrier of cholesterol from the liver to the blood. As LDL enters the artery wall, it is believed that they are modified by oxidation. It is this "oxidized LDL" that is thought to be the cause of inflammation.

Mi-Kyung Chang, M.D. points out that CRP is not merely a marker of future cardiovascular events, as most people believe, but it actually binds to oxidized LDL and apoptotic or dying cells, which gives it a potential role in development or modulation of atherosclerosis, as well as in other inflammatory disease.

By recognizing the molecule phosphocholine, Chang reasoned that CRP might bind to oxidized LDL, but not native LDL cholesterol, which does not expose phosphocholine. This is why CRP binds itself to dying cells too, as their phosphocholine molecule is exposed.

Source: University of California, San Diego. Sept 12, 2002