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Terminal complexes of the complement system: new structural insights and their relevance to function
Author(s) -
Morgan Bryan Paul,
Walters David,
Serna Marina,
Bubeck Doryen
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
immunological reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.839
H-Index - 223
eISSN - 1600-065X
pISSN - 0105-2896
DOI - 10.1111/imr.12461
Subject(s) - complement membrane attack complex , complement system , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , complement (music) , innate immune system , complement receptor , function (biology) , receptor , alternative complement pathway , complement control protein , immune system , immunology , biochemistry , phenotype , gene , complementation
Summary Complement is a key component of innate immunity in health and a powerful driver of inflammation and tissue injury in disease. The biological and pathological effects of complement activation are mediated by activation products. These come in two flavors: (i) proteolytic fragments of complement proteins (C3, C4, C5) generated during activation that bind specific receptors on target cells to mediate effects; (ii) the multimolecular membrane attack complex generated from the five terminal complement proteins that directly binds to and penetrates target cell membranes. Several recent publications have described structural insights that have changed perceptions of the nature of this membrane attack complex. This review will describe these recent advances in understanding of the structure of the membrane attack complex and its by‐product the fluid‐phase terminal complement complex and relate these new structural insights to functional consequences and cell responses to complement membrane attack.