Question

Early in an infection, the body produces a variety of "acute phase proteins" to ramp up an immune response. What sort of benefits do these acute phase proteins provide and what sort of effect would an inability to induce the production of these proteins have on an individual?

Answer 1

Acute phase proteins are found in blood plasma, which are a group of biochemically functionally irrelevant proteins whose concentrations fluctuate during inflammation. The inflammation generally creates the chemical signal of cytokinins which induce the lever to increase the acute phase proteins. Some proteins positively regulated which involved in immune responses called positive acute phase proteins and some proteins negatively regulated during inflammatory responses called negative acute phase proteins. The major negative acute phase proteins include albumin, transferrin, transthyretin, retinol-binding protein, antithrombin, transcortin etc.

The major acute phase proteins involved in innate immunity are C-reactive protein (CRP), serum amyloid A (SAA), fibrinogen, mannose-binding proteins, complement components, alpha 1-acid glycoprotein (AGP), etc. These provide the first line of defence in optimization and trapping of microorganism and their products. They activate the complement system to respond, they bind to cellular remnants like nuclear fractions and scavenging free haemoglobin and radicals.

They play important role in diagnostics as they modulate according to infection or injury state of an organism. Bovine respiratory syncytial virus, prostate cancer, bronchopneumonia, multiple myeloma are some of the diseases in which these protein levels will be monitored as diagnostic tools.

If the person unable to produce acute phase proteins the immune response may be delayed and the pathogen benefitted by it in fast colonising in the host before it got recognised by the immune system. The diagnosis will be difficult in specific disorders in which their levels modulated.