CRP and chronic kidney disease: Pentraxin-3 (PTX3), an inflammatory mediator structurally linked to CRP produced by vascular endothelial cells and macrophages in response to pro-inflammatory signals, has been shown to be elevated in haemodialysis patients [53], and has been identified as a novel mortality risk factor in incident dialysis patients and CKD patients, independent of traditional risk factors, CRP and flow-mediated dilation [54,55].