Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Jul;108(1):339-351.
doi: 10.1002/JLB.3MIR0220-270R. Epub 2020 Mar 17.

Complement: Bridging the innate and adaptive immune systems in sterile inflammation

Martin W Lo  1 , Trent M Woodruff  1
Affiliations
Review

Complement: Bridging the innate and adaptive immune systems in sterile inflammation

Martin W Lo et al. J Leukoc Biol. 2020 Jul.

Abstract

The complement system is a collection of soluble and membrane-bound proteins that together act as a powerful amplifier of the innate and adaptive immune systems. Although its role in infection is well established, complement is becoming increasingly recognized as a key contributor to sterile inflammation, a chronic inflammatory process often associated with noncommunicable diseases. In this context, damaged tissues release danger signals and trigger complement, which acts on a range of leukocytes to augment and bridge the innate and adaptive immune systems. Given the detrimental effect of chronic inflammation, the complement system is therefore well placed as an anti-inflammatory drug target. In this review, we provide a general outline of the sterile activators, effectors, and targets of the complement system and a series of examples (i.e., hypertension, cancer, allograft transplant rejection, and neuroinflammation) that highlight complement's ability to bridge the 2 arms of the immune system.

Keywords: C1q; alloimmunity; anaphylatoxins; cancer; hypertension; neuroinflammation.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Frumkin H, Haines A. Global environmental change and noncommunicable disease risks. Annu Rev Public Health. 2019;40:261-282.
    1. Camps J. Oxidative Stress and Inflammation in Non-communicable Diseases - Molecular Mechanisms and Perspectives in Therapeutics. Imprint: Springer, Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2014.
    1. Chen GY, Nuñez G. Sterile inflammation: sensing and reacting to damage. Nat Rev Immunol. 2010;10:826-837.
    1. Martin SJ. Cell death and inflammation: the case for IL-1 family cytokines as the canonical DAMPs of the immune system. FEBS J. 2016;283:2599-2615.
    1. Gong T, Liu L, Jiang W, Zhou R. DAMP-sensing receptors in sterile inflammation and inflammatory diseases. Nat Rev Immunol. 2019;20:95-112.

Publication types

Substances