The Complement System

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxi

   PDF

2. A Piece of Complement History

   1. The Development of the “One-Hit” or “Single Site” Theory of Complement Mediated Immune Hemolysis

      • Tibor Borsos

      Pages 3-15

3. Pathways, Genetics and Gene Regulation of Complement

   1. The Initiation Complexes of the Classical and Lectin Pathways

      • Péter Gál, Géza Ambrus, Zsolt Lőrincz, Péter Závodszky

      Pages 19-43

   2. Complement Genetics

      • György Ábel, Vincent Agnello

      Pages 45-59

   3. Regulation of Complement Receptor Gene Expression

      • Mate Tolnay, George C. Tsokos

      Pages 61-73

4. Novel Regulatory Roles of Complement in Health and Disease

   1. Coordination of Adaptive Immune Responses by C3

      • Anna Erdei, Eszter Molnár, Eszter Csomor, Zsuzsa Bajtay, József Prechl

      Pages 77-96

   2. Terminal Complement Complex: Regulation of Formation and Pathophysiological Functions

      • Francesco Tedesco, Roberta Bulla, Fabio Fischetti

      Pages 97-127

   3. The Many Faces of the Membrane Regulators of Complement

      • Claire L. Harris, B. Paul Morgan

      Pages 129-166

   4. New Insights into the Regulation of Complement Activation by Decay Accelerating Factor

      • Lisa Kuttner-Kondo, Edward M. Medof

      Pages 167-185

   5. The Role of Complement in Pregnancy and Fetal Loss

      • Guillermina Girardi, Jane E. Salmon

      Pages 187-199

   6. Complement Deficiencies: a 2004 Update

      • György Ábel, Vincent Agnello

      Pages 201-228

5. Exploitation of Complement Proteins in Infection and Cancer

   1. Microbial Evasion Mechanisms Against Human Complement

      • Reinhard Würzner, Peter F. Zipfel

      Pages 231-248

   2. Complement-Mediated Antibody-Dependent Enhancement of Viral Infections

      • Zoltán Prohászka, Ferenc D. Tóth, Dénes Bánhegyi, George Füst

      Pages 249-264

   3. Tumor Cell Resistance to Complement-Mediated Lysis

      • Michael Kirschfink, Zvi Fishelson

      Pages 265-304

6. Role of Complement in Autoimmune Diseases, Allergy and Transplantation

   1. Complement and Autoimmunity

      • George C. Tsokos, Mate Tolnay

      Pages 307-314

   2. The Complex Roles of Anaphylatoxins in Allergic Asthma and Autoimmune Diseases

      • Heiko Hawlisch, Marsha Wills-Karp, Christopher L. Karp, Jörg Köhl

      Pages 315-344

   3. Role of Complement in Allergy

      • Lilian Varga, Henriette Farkas, George Fust

      Pages 345-360

   4. Complement Activation-Related Pseudoallergy

      • Janos Szebeni

      Pages 361-396

   5. The Role of Complement in Transplantation

      • Michael Kirschfink, Tom Eirik Mollnes

      Pages 397-418

7. Role of Complement in Acute Catastrophic Illnesses

   1. Role of Complement in Myocardial Ischemia and Infarction

      • Mary C. Walsh, Melanie L. Hart, Todd Bourcier, Deepak Bhole, Minoru Takahashi, Gregory L. Stahl

      Pages 421-435

As a phylogenetically old system complement is now regarded as a part of innate immunity. But it is much more than that. It bridges innate and adapted immunity, participates not only in host defense but also in many essential physiological processes, old and new diseases and adverse conditions. Indeed, complement became a term that almost defies categorization. What was for a long time a subject for a limited number of specialists has now moved into the mainstream of experimental and clinical immunology. In 1973 I visited the Basel Institute of Immunology and met its director, the eminent scientist and Nobel laureate Nils Jerne. When I entered his office he greeted me with the following words: “Complement, does that really exist?” I was never certain whether he wanted only to tease me or whether he sincerely believed that the complement system was an unimportant biological curiosity, a misstep of evolution. But, of course, missteps do not survive the evolutionary process. Little did I foresee the dramatic developments of recent years when Hans J. Müller-Eberhard and I started to unravel the specifics of the action of the cobra venom factor on the complement system in 1968 and defined a new pathway to its activation. An elucidation of the role of the system in diseases and its control for therapeutic reasons is now getting closer to actual realization in the clinic although many problems, in particular those of highly specificinhibition free of side effects, have still to be resolved.

• Asthma
• Sepsis
• Transplantation
• antimicrobial
• autoimmune disease
• autoimmunity
• infection
• infections
• infectious
• viral infection
• infectious diseases

• Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring

  Janos Szebeni

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