Markers sierologici dell'infiammazione nelle malattie reumatiche

Laboratory evaluation of inflammation in rheumatic diseases is important both to quantify the extent of inflammation and to monitor disease activity. Improvement in CRP levels is an objective indication that a drug has produced a beneficial effect and thus may be useful to the physician for monitoring effects of therapy. Since CRP and ERS may be elevated in a number of conditions besides RA, a diagnosis of RA must be made before using CRP and ERS as a prognostic factor. The introduction of sensitive assays to quantitate many inflammatory-associated cytokines increased the interest in measuring these potent inflammatory mediators; in particular, IL-6 increases rapidly after inflammatory stimuli and serum level of this cytokine correlates with the severity and course of the disease process in rheumatoid arthritis.