Under the criteria, when inflammation with swelling (synovitis) is observed in at least one or more joints and no disease other than RA is found to be the cause of the inflammation, the following four items are evaluated: (1) number of symptomatic joints; (2) rheumatoid factor (RF) or anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody (ACPA); (3) C-reactive protein (CRP) or erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR); and (4) duration of symptoms. The gene discussed is CRP; the disease is rheumatoid arthritis.