Question:easy
The 'C' in C-reactive protein stands for:
The 'C' in C-reactive protein stands for:
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Named because it reacts with a pneumococcal polysaccharide.
Updated On: Jun 24, 2026
- Capsular polysaccharide in pneumococcus
- Concanavalin-A
- Calretinin
- Cellular
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The Correct Option is A
Solution and Explanation
The naming of C-reactive protein is purely historical. When this acute-phase protein was first described, investigators noticed that serum from acutely ill patients precipitated a specific carbohydrate component of the pneumococcal cell, the C-polysaccharide of Streptococcus pneumoniae. Because the protein reacted with this C substance, it was christened C-reactive protein. Thus the 'C' is derived from the pneumococcal C-polysaccharide, which corresponds to option A. The remaining choices are distractors from unrelated areas: concanavalin-A is a lectin used to study glycoproteins, calretinin is a marker employed in pathology, and 'cellular' has no link to the historical naming. Therefore the polysaccharide answer is correct.
\[\boxed{\text{Capsular polysaccharide in pneumococcus}}\]
\[\boxed{\text{Capsular polysaccharide in pneumococcus}}\]
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