The complement anaphylatoxin, C5a, through binding to its receptors (C5aR or C5L2), has important biological properties for recruitment and activation of phagocytes. C5a has been identified as a powerful modulator of Toll-like receptor-induced cytokine and chemokine production by macrophages. Both the complement system and the interleukin (IL)-17 cytokine family protect against extracellular pa...

Pre-eclampsia (PE) is a life-threatening multisystem disorder leading to maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity. Emerging evidence showed that activation of the complement system is implicated in the pathological processes of PE. However, little is known about the detailed cellular and molecular mechanism of complement activation in the development of PE. In this study, we reported that ...

Components of innate immunity have recently been implicated in the regulation of developmental processes. Most strikingly, complement factors appear to be involved in limb regeneration in certain urodele species. Prompted by these observations and anticipating a conserved role of complement in mammalian regeneration, we have now investigated the involvement of complement component C5 in liver r...

The hyperacute rejection of renal allografts has much in common with pigto-dog renal xenograft rejections. An analysis of the xenograft model revealed new functional aspects of graft rejection that appear to be an integral part of the humoral immune injury. Anaphylatoxin or C5a, a cleavage product of the fifth complement component was shown to play a major role in the rejection of isolated kidn...

Beyond its role in immunity, complement mediates a wide range of functions in the context of morphogenetic or tissue remodeling processes. Angiogenesis is crucial during tissue remodeling in multiple pathologies; however, the knowledge about the regulation of neovascularization by the complement components is scarce. Here we studied the involvement of complement in pathological angiogenesis. St...

Rationale The complement anaphylatoxin 5a (C5a) is an inflammatory mediator associated with the pathology of inflammatory diseases such as sepsis. C5a mediates its pro-inflammatory effects via interaction with two C5a receptors, C5aR and C5L2. C5aR initiates G proteincoupled receptor signaling while C5L2 is not coupled to G proteins and its role in C5a-mediated immune processes is not well unde...

Treatment of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2/neu)-expressing breast cancer patients with a monoclonal antibody (mAb) directed against HER2/neu improves the outcome of chemotherapy. In cases in which remission is observed, antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) seems to be one of the main mechanisms of anti-HER2/neu mAb action, implicating Fc gamma receptors (Fc gamm...

Microarray expression profiles reveal substantial changes in gene expression in the ipsilateral dorsal horn of the spinal cord in response to three peripheral nerve injury models of neuropathic pain. However, only 54 of the 612 regulated genes are commonly expressed across all the neuropathic pain models. Many of the commonly regulated transcripts are immune related and include the complement c...

Complement factor C5a and its receptor C5aR are expressed in vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques; however, a causal relation between C5a and plaque rupture has not been established yet. Accelerated atherosclerosis was induced by placing vein grafts in male apoE(-/-) mice. After 24 days, when advanced plaques had developed, C5a or PBS was applied locally at the lesion site in a pluronic gel. Thre...