Besides the pulmonary pathology, systemic inflammation in COPD, which manifests itself as increased activation of circulating inflammatory cells and elevated levels of TNF-α or IL-1β, as well as increased serum concentrations of acute phase proteins such as C-reactive protein (CRP) [21-23], may directly or indirectly contribute to skeletal muscle atrophy [24,25]. The gene discussed is CRP; the disease is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.