Acute phase proteins

Abstract

Various plasma protein patterns following inflammation and metabolic stress were described since diagnostic value of ESR was established. This reactive dysproteinemia is now recognized to reflect the shift in hepatic proteosynthesis after the immunoendocrinological activation. Four main groups of mediators are necessary for expression of hepatic positive and negative acute phase proteins (APPs): first and second "wave' of proinflammatory cytokines, further glucocorticoids and growth factors including insulin. Actual data showing details of the immunological and endocrinological regulation of stress hepatocyte proteosynthesis are summarized and our own results are presented. We evaluated the diagnostic use of APPs in some defined clinical situations (neutropenic period after bone marrow transplantation, postoperative complications) and correlated APPs with the plasma levels of the circulating interleukin-6 and cortisol. In another study, APPs, plasma and urinary TNF, interleukin-6, interleukin-8 and adhesive molecules ICAM-1, VCAM-1 were found to be significantly different in various glomerulopathies. Finally, our experimental data indicate the nitric oxide participation in oestradiol regulation of coeruloplasmin synthesis in rat.