C-Reactive Protein and Cardiovascular Disease Risk: Still an Unknown Quantity?

Just putting this one out there:

C-Reactive Protein and CVD Risk   (full text article available at link, abstract below)

The role of C-reactive protein (CRP) in cardiovascular disease risk remains controversial, and several interrelated questions are unresolved. Although it is clear that higher circulating CRP levels are associated with coronary heart disease (CHD) incidence and mortality rates in prospective studies, the magnitude of this association has been downgraded in recent years (1). It is also clear that CRP levels are strongly related to many potential confounding factors that influence CHD incidence and mortality rates. In predictive models that appropriately account for these confounders, the magnitude of the association between CRP levels and CHD outcomes is considerably attenuated toward the null (2). Whether CRP is a marker of cardiovascular disease risk or is causally related to cardiovascular disease is uncertain. Nonetheless, some authors have recently claimed that CRP itself is indeed a promoter of atherosclerosis and increased CHD risk (3, 4). If this is true, CRP would become a clear and explicit target for therapeutic intervention.