S100A12 (calgranulin С) is a member of the S100 multigene family of calcium-binding proteins implicated in the Ca2+ - dependent regulation of a variety of intracellular activities including protein phosphorylation, kinase activities, cell proliferation and differentiation, the dynamics of cytoskeletal rearrangement and structural organization of membranes, intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis, inflammation, and in protection from oxidative cell damage (Donato. 1999.2001). S100A12 (A 12) is constitutively expressed in neutrophils (Delfangelica et al., 1994) and is induced in mononuclear cells and the Jurkat T cell line (Hofmannt et al., 1999; Yange et al., 2001).A1isaligand for the receptor for advanced glycosylation end-products (RAGE) and mediates NF-κВ-dependent activation of monocytes and endothelial cells through RAGE binding (Hofmannt et al., 1999). A12 is a potent chemoattractant for monocytes (Hofmann et al., 1999; Yange et al., 2001) and the high levels found in synovial fluid of rheumatoid patients (Yang et al., 2001) and in atherosclerotic lesions of apo E-nuII mice (Kislinger et al., 2001) may contribute to monocyte recruitment in these conditions.