In the prospective cohort, white blood cell count (14.6 vs. 11.9 /nl, P = 0.16), C-reactive protein (82.5 vs. 24.9 mg/l, P = 0.12), and procalcitonin (0.48 vs. 0.22 ng/ml, P = 0.10) did not significantly differ between patients with severe/necrotizing AP vs. non-severe edematous AP at hospital admission (Table 1, Additional file 1: Fig. S1). The gene discussed is CRP; the disease is alkaline phosphatase measurement.