Acute phase response in bronchiectasis and bronchus carcinoma.

Measurement of the acute phase response in patients suffering from bronchiectasis, emphysema, bronchus carcinoma and various benign space-occupying lesions was undertaken, using sensitive immunoradiometric assays for C-reactive protein (CRP) and serum amyloid-A protein (SAA). In some patients with bronchiectasis, clinically judged to be in remission, the results show a major ongoing acute phase response. Such a response could predispose these patients to the development of reactive secondary amyloidosis. In bronchus carcinoma the application of these measurements to judge the extent of tumor growth is limited as infection-complicating obstruction is a more potent initiator of the acute phase response than the neoplastic process per se.