The new Canadian guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of dyslipidemia and prevention of cardiovascular disease outline the potential use of inflammatory biomarker high sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP) as an indicator to assess cardio vascular risk, and the need for initiating statin therapy. The JUPITER (Justification for the Use of Statins in Prevention: an Intervention Trial Evaluating Rosuvastatin) study showed that apparently healthy men and women with elevated hsCRP, but normal LDL-C (less than 3.4 mmol/L), had an overall 44% reduction in the primary end points with rosuvastatin 20 mg/day.

     Liver and adipose tissues secrete CRP in response to inflammation, and it is mainly regulated by interleukin-6. Three studies (i) animal models, in which CRP was injected, (ii) transgenic mice over-expressing human CRP and (iii) Mendelian randomization studies indicate that CRP may not have a direct role in promoting atherosclerosis but, just serves as a marker of vascular inflammation and the presence of atherosclerosis.