Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25659340›Full record

ReviewJournal of innate immunity2015

C4a: An Anaphylatoxin in Name Only.

Scott R Barnum

Open access · bronzeAbstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Journal of innate immunity, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
33citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
2.2field-weighted citation impact, top 12% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

33 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 63 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Complement anaphylatoxins: Potential therapeutic target for diabetic kidney disease.Diabetic medicine : a journal of the British Diabetic Association · 2025
    Review
  6. Review
  7. Article
  8. Review
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  10. Review
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Structural biology of complement receptors.Frontiers in immunology · 2023
    Review
  14. Article
  15. Review
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
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  20. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.

Scott R BarnumDepartments of Microbiology and Neurobiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Ala., USA.
University of Alabama at Birmingham · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Activation of complement leads to generation of the 3 anaphylatoxins C3a, C4a, and C5a. Although all 3 peptides are structurally similar, only C3a and C5a share a similar functional profile that includes the classic inflammatory activities and, more recently, developmental homing and regenerative properties among others. In contrast, the functional profile of C4a is questionable in most cases owing to contamination of C4a preparations with physiologically relevant levels of C3a and/or C5a. Combined with the absence of an identified C4a receptor and the inability of C4a to signal through the C3a and C5a receptors, it is clear that C4a should not be included in the family of complement anaphylatoxins.

Indexed as

Complement ActivationComplement C3Complement C4aComplement C5aHumansInflammationTerminology as TopicC3 protein, humanComplement C3Complement C4aComplement C5a

Identifiers

PMID25659340
PMCPMC6738802
OpenAlexW2093621960

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.