The role of the laboratory in rheumatology. Acute-phase proteins.

In summary, therefore, the acute-phase protein response is a multiple misnomer. Many of these molecules are associated more closely with chronic than with acute inflammation; only some have been shown to be phasic (indeed, the physiological control of biosynthesis of these molecules is a field wide open to exploration), and some are peptides rather than proteins. Familiarity breeds contempt and perhaps the routine use of the ESR on a purely pragmatic basis has retarded proper detailed consideration of the nature of the molecular events and obscured the need to define their controlling mechanisms. This entire subject deserves closer attention, but attention focused upon the detail of the basic science involved and not simply further extensions of a purely phenomenological nature.