Development of the ancient innate immune system required not only a mechanism to recognize foreign organisms from self but also to destroy them. Pore-forming proteins containing the membrane attack complex Perforin domain were one of the first triumphs of an innate immune system needing to eliminate microbes and virally infected cells. Membrane attack complex of complement and Perforin domain p...

Because of the complement system's involvement in many human diseases and potential complications associated with its systemic blockade, site-specific regulation of this effector system is an attractive concept. We report on further developments of such an approach using a single-chain Ab fragment as a vehicle to deliver complement regulatory proteins to a defined cell type. In a model system i...

Large-scale genome-wide SNP association studies have identified an association between variants of CR1, the gene encoding complement component receptor 1, and the sporadic form of Alzheimer's disease. The role of CR1 and the complement system in Alzheimer's disease remains far from clear. In rodents the closest ortholog of CR1 is the Crry gene (Cr1-related protein Y). To begin to explore its ro...

CD59 is one of the key molecules involved in cell protection against autologus complement. The fact that complement regulatory proteins are able to prevent hyperacute rejection of organs in pig to primate model, raises the question of possible complement regulatory protein (CRP) involvement in the maturation of immunological system. We report here that in foetal and postnatal human thymus, CD59...

A homologue of complement component C3 (SpC3) has been cloned and sequenced from the purple sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. The preprocessed, deduced protein size is estimated to be 186 kDa with a short leader and two chains, alpha and beta. There are cysteines in conserved positions for interchain disulfide bonding, and there is a conserved thioester site in the alpha-chain with an ...

BACKGROUND The third complement component (C3) is a central protein of the complement system conserved from fish to mammals. It also showed distinct characteristics in different animal groups. Striking features of the fish complement system were unveiled, including prominent levels of extrahepatic expression and isotypic diversity of the complement components. The evidences of the involvement o...

The inflammatory response is the rapid initiation and interplay of humoral (dissolved in blood) cellular systems designed to limit degree tissue damage, destroy infectious microorganisms, initiate an adaptive immune response, healing process. This review aimed comprehensively describe role innate immunity. Three key plasma protein are essential for effective response. These complement system, c...

Here we report the immunological characterization of lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticles (NPs) and propose a method to control the levels of complement activation induced by these NPs. This method consists of the highly specific modification of the NP surface with methoxyl, carboxyl, and amine groups. Hybrid NPs with methoxyl surface groups induced the lowest complement activation, whereas the N...

A microbe becomes a pathogen by evading—to a greater or lesser extent—the immune defenses of its host. The mechanisms that have evolved for so doing are legion in number and striking in their diversity and ingenuity. They involve mechanisms to evade recognition by—and mechanisms to subvert the effector mechanisms of—both the innate and the adaptive immune response (see Table 1). All classes of ...

The complement system consists of 3 pathways and more than 30 proteins, including those with biological activity that directly or indirectly mediate the effects of this system, plus a set of regulatory proteins necessary to prevent injudicious complement activation on host tissue. The role for complement in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is paradoxic. On one hand, the co...