No abstract

Background Atherosclerosis is accompanied by a low grade inflammatory response.Hypothesis To use erythrocyte aggregability as a biomarker to exclude the presence of low grade inflammatory response in apparently healthy individuals.Methods The adhesiveness/aggregation of red blood cells was quantitated by using a simple slide test and image analysis. ResultsWe included 121 apparently healthy individuals and found a significant correlation between the degree of erythrocyte adhesiveness/aggregation and either the concentration of high sensitive CRP (r ¼ 0.6, P o 0.001), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (r ¼ 0.5, P o 0.0001) or fibrinogen (r ¼ 0.5, P o 0.0001). By using certain cutoff points for the erythrocyte adhesiveness/aggregation test we could define individuals with a very low grade inflammatory response.Conclusions By using this inexpensive and rapid assessment, we could clearly discriminate between individuals with a very low inflammatory response and those with a more intense one. This biomarker should be further evaluated as a possible screening test for use in large populations of apparently healthy individuals in whom the detection of low grade inflammation might contribute to guiding appropriate lifestyle modifications and therapeutic interventions.

We have developed a simple slide test and image analysis to reveal the state of erythrocyte adhesiveness/aggregation in the peripheral blood of patients with various degrees of the humoral acute phase response. The significant correlation between the results of the erythrocyte adhesiveness/aggregation test (EAAT), the erythrocyte sedimentation rate and fibrinogen concentration support the notion that it is possible to use the EAAT as a marker for the intensity of the acute phase response. Within a group of 860 individuals, we were able to differentiate effectively between groups of patients with a different intensity of humoral acute phase response. The present study confirms previous observations that support the applicability of the EAAT to routine clinical practice.