[Structure and properties of extracellular proteins regulating the proteolytic phase of complement activation]

Abstract

The structure and biochemical properties of the major soluble regulatory proteins of the complement, including the CI-inhibitor, factors I, H, and J, properdin, the C4-binding protein and other protein components, are reviewed. Three types of the proteolytic complement cascade regulation by proteins are envisaged: the first one involves the inhibition of complement proteases, the second one is based on proteolytic degradation of complement activation products and the third one includes the regulation of stability of complement protein complexes. The main functional role of humoral regulatory proteins consists in the limitation of the proteolytic cascade.