Our May 2025 Quick Question was meant to be a brain teaser inspired by Dave McGlasson’s December 2023 Clot Club entry, “Do We Need to Standardize Coagulation Nomenclature in Today’s Laboratory Environment?” The question listed several assays that use the letter C. “Which is the routine assay for inflammation?” It seems that only four of our 63 respondents were “teased…”
- PC: 2 (3%)
- C5a: 0
- LAC: 1 (2%)
- CRP: 59 (93%)
- APCR: 1 (2%)
To forge ahead with the explanation that we probably don’t need, PC is protein C, one of the coagulation control enzymes that, when bound to protein S, metabolizes FV and FVIII. PC deficiency is associated with increased thrombosis risk. Nobody selected C5a, which is a fragment of C5, a complement component. CRP, as most know, is C-reactive protein, an acute phase reactant that we use routinely to measure chronic or acute inflammation. APCR is activated protein C resistance, caused by the FV Leiden mutation that renders FV resistant to protein C-mediated digestion.
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