ReviewMolecular medicine (Cambridge, Mass.)
New insights of an old defense system: structure, function, and clinical relevance of the complement system.
Review in Molecular medicine (Cambridge, Mass.). The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 100 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
100 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 221 citations in OpenAlex.
- Complement response to burn injury: systematic review and meta-analysis of patient and animal studies.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Pooled it
- Complete Complement Factor I (CFI) deficiency: a systematic review of forty-nine patients including three novel cases.BMC immunology · 2025Pooled it
- Therapeutic Targeting of the Complement System: From Rare Diseases to Pandemics.Pharmacological reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Non-canonical Roles of Complement in the CNS: From Synaptic Organizer to Presynaptic Modulator of Glutamate Transmission.Current neuropharmacology · 2025Review
- Immunity and Coagulation in COVID-19.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Baicalin relieves complement alternative pathway activation-induced lung inflammation through inhibition of NF-κB pathway.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2024Article
- Review
- Emerging role of complement in COVID-19 and other respiratory virus diseases.Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS · 2024Review
- Glaucoma Animal Models beyond Chronic IOP Increase.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- The time-dependent changes in serum immunoglobulin after kidney transplantation and its association with infection.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Article
- Functional evaluation of rare variants in complement factor I using a minigene assay.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Article
- Proteomics analysis of lung tissue reveals protein makers for the lung injury of adjuvant arthritis rats.Molecular medicine reports · 2023Article
- C3a-C3aR signaling is a novel modulator of skeletal homeostasis.Bone reports · 2023Article
- Plasma Proteomic Analysis Reveals the Potential Role of Lectin and Alternative Complement Pathways in IgA Vasculitis Pathogenesis.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Osteogenic Potential of a Polyethylene Glycol Hydrogel Functionalized with Poly-Lysine Dendrigrafts (DGL) for Bone Regeneration.Materials (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Review
- Promotion of the inflammatory response in mid colon of complement component 3 knockout mice.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Differential proteomic analysis demonstrates follicle fluid participate immune reaction and protein translation in yak.BMC veterinary research · 2022Article
- The role of C5a-C5aR1 axis in bone pathophysiology: A mini-review.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2022Review
- A Jack of All Trades: The Role of Pneumococcal Surface Protein A in the Pathogenesis ofFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2022Review
40 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The complement system was discovered a century ago as a potent defense cascade of innate immunity. After its first description, continuous experimental and clinical research was performed, and three canonical pathways of activation were established. Upon activation by traumatic or surgical tissue damage, complement reveals beneficial functions of pathogen and danger defense by sensing and clearing injured cells. However, the latest research efforts have provided a more distinct insight into the complement system and its clinical subsequences. Complement has been shown to play a significant role in the pathogenesis of various inflammatory processes such as sepsis, multiorgan dysfunction, ischemia/reperfusion, cardiovascular diseases and many others. The three well-known activation pathways of the complement system have been challenged by newer findings that demonstrate direct production of central complement effectors (for example, C5a) by serine proteases of the coagulation cascade. In particular, thrombin is capable of producing C5a, which not only plays a decisive role on pathogens and infected/damaged tissues, but also acts systemically. In the case of uncontrolled complement activation, "friendly fire" is generated, resulting in the destruction of healthy host tissue. Therefore, the traditional research that focuses on a mainly positive-acting cascade has now shifted to the negative effects and how tissue damage originated by the activation of the complement can be contained. In a translational approach including structure-function relations of this ancient defense system, this review provides new insights of complement-mediated clinical relevant diseases and the development of complement modulation strategies and current research aspects.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.