It has recently become clear that the systemic inflammatory response, as evidenced by elevated circulating concentrations of C-reactive protein, is an important prognostic factor independent of tumour stage in patients undergoing potentially curative surgery for a number of solid tumours including colorectal (Nielsen et al, 2000; McMillan et al, 2003); gastro-oesophageal (Ikeda et al, 2003; Crumley et al, 2006), pancreatic (Jamieson et al, 2005) and urinary bladder (Hilmy et al, 2005) cancers. This evidence concerns the gene CRP and cancer.