Acute phase proteins in veterinary medicine: A review

The acute phase proteins (APPs) are a group of blood proteins that contribute to restoring homeostasis and limiting microbial growth in an antibody-independent manner in animals which are exposed to different pathological conditions like infection, inflammation, surgical trauma and stress. In the last two decades, many advances have been made in monitoring APPs in both farm and companion animals for clinical and experimental purposes. Also, the mechanism of the APPs response is receiving attention in veterinary science in connection with the innate immune systems of animals. This review describes the many of new results of research and role APPs in farm animal, with special reference to their functions, types, induction and regulatory expression, some of biological functions, and their current and future applications to veterinary diagnosis and animal production.