AUTHOR=Zhang Lin , Li Hai-Yun , Li Wei , Shen Zhi-Yuan , Wang Yin-Di , Ji Shang-Rong , Wu Yi TITLE=An ELISA Assay for Quantifying Monomeric C-Reactive Protein in Plasma JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology VOLUME=9 YEAR=2018 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2018.00511 DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2018.00511 ISSN=1664-3224 ABSTRACT=

Native C-reactive protein (nCRP) is a non-specific marker of inflammation being claimed as a bystander in several chronic disorders. Accumulating evidence indicates that nCRP dissociates to and acts primarily as the monomeric conformation (mCRP) at inflammatory loci. This suggests that mCRP may be a superior disease marker with improved specificity and clear causality to the underlying pathogenesis. However, the lack of a feasible assay to quantify mCRP in clinical samples precludes the assessment of that suggestion. Here we report the development of a sandwich ELISA assay for quantification of plasma mCRP using commercially available reagents. Our assay is reproducible and highly conformation-specific showing a reliable detection limit of 1 ng/mL. We further show that mCRP appears to be a better marker than nCRP in several skin-related autoimmune disorders. This assay thus provides a useful tool to examine the clinical significance and utility of mCRP.