PURPOSE Systemic complement activation is associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and has mainly been attributed to a risk allele in the complement factor H (CFH) gene. Whether other important AMD genes also influence complement activation is unclear. In the present case-control study, complement activity and concentrations of complement components and their activation products a...

BACKGROUND Intravenous (IV) iron preparations are widely used in the treatment of anemia in patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD). All IV iron preparations carry a risk of causing hypersensitivity reactions. However, the pathophysiological mechanism is poorly understood. We hypothesize that a relevant number of these reactions are mediated by complement activation, resulting in a pseudo-anaphyl...

During dialysis with cuprophane or polycarbonate filters, a fall in neutrophil and eosinophil cell counts is observed. Total complement remains unchanged, but C3a increases indicating complement activation. Release of granular granulocyte proteins is observed indicating granulocyte activation. Patient reactions or biochemical findings indicate no significant difference when polycarbonate or cup...

The complement system is an essential element of the innate immune response that becomes activated upon recognition of molecular patterns associated with microorganisms, abnormal host cells, and modified molecules in the extracellular environment. The resulting proteolytic cascade tags the complement activator for elimination and elicits a pro-inflammatory response leading to recruitment and ac...

The complement system is an ancient part of the innate immune system important for both tissue homeostasis and host defense. However, bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus (SA) possess elaborative mechanisms for evading both the complement system and other parts of the immune system. One of these evasive mechanisms-important in causing chronic and therapy resistant infections-is the intracellular...

Complement activation has been reported after major trauma. However, little is known about the clinical relevance and the mechanisms of complement activation early after trauma. Therefore, the aim of this study was to measure complement activation, to identify the roles of injury severity and hypoperfusion, to determine the predominant activated pathway, and to identify the clinical significanc...

The complement system is activated in response to tissue injury. During wound healing, complement activation seems beneficial in acute wounds but may be detrimental in chronic wounds. We found that the epidermal expression of many complement components was only increased to a minor extent in skin wounds in vivo and in cultured keratinocytes after exposure to supernatant from stimulated mononucl...