• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.44 no.4
• /
• pp.420-431
• /
• 2016

The complement system comprises a set of essential molecules that bridge the innate and adaptive immune responses. Research has focused on how the complement system's destructive mechanism could potentially be harnessed for cancer treatment. However, cancer subverts the complement system to avoid immunosurveillance. In addition, a complement-triggered biological mechanism that contributes to cancer growth has been identified. Thus, drugs should be designed to homeostatically maintain a normal concentration of complement. This review explores three types of complement-related anti-cancer drugs: therapeutic antibodies, complement inhibitory drugs, and anti-complement regulatory drugs.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
• /
• v.58 no.7
• /
• pp.239-244
• /
• 2015

The complement system is part of the innate immune response and as such defends against invading pathogens, removes immune complexes and damaged self-cells, aids organ regeneration, confers neuroprotection, and engages with the adaptive immune response via T and B cells. Complement activation can either benefit or harm the host organism; thus, the complement system must maintain a balance between activation on foreign or modified self surfaces and inhibition on intact host cells. Complement regulators are essential for maintaining this balance and are classified as soluble regulators, such as factor H, and membrane-bound regulators. Defective complement regulators can damage the host cell and result in the accumulation of immunological debris. Moreover, defective regulators are associated with several autoimmune diseases such as atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome, dense deposit disease, age-related macular degeneration, and systemic lupus erythematosus. Therefore, understanding the molecular mechanisms by which the complement system is regulated is important for the development of novel therapies for complement-associated diseases.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.618-626
• /
• 2016

Pleural effusion lymphoma (PEL) is a rare B-cell lymphoma that has a very poor prognosis with a median survival time of around 6 months. PEL is caused by Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus, and is often co-infected with the Epstein Barr virus. The complement system is fundamental in the innate immune system against pathogen invasion and tumor development. In the present study, we investigated the activation of the complement system in PEL cells using human serum complements. Interestingly, two widely used PEL cell lines, BCP-1 and BCBL-1, showed different susceptibility to the complement system, which may be due to CD46 expression on their cell membranes. Complement activation did not induce apoptosis but supported cell survival considerably. Our results demonstrated the susceptibility of PEL to the complement system and its underlying mechanisms, which would provide insight into understanding the pathogenesis of PEL.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
• /
• v.37 no.2
• /
• pp.91-106
• /
• 2024

The mechanisms of the chronic pain and depression comorbidity have gained significant attention in recent years. The complement system, widely involved in central nervous system diseases and mediating non-specific immune mechanisms in the body, remains incompletely understood in its involvement in the comorbidity mechanisms of chronic pain and depression. This review aims to consolidate the findings from recent studies on the complement system in chronic pain and depression, proposing that it may serve as a promising shared therapeutic target for both conditions. Complement proteins C1q, C3, C5, as well as their cleavage products C3a and C5a, along with the associated receptors C3aR, CR3, and C5aR, are believed to have significant implications in the comorbid mechanism. The primary potential mechanisms encompass the involvement of the complement cascade C1q/C3-CR3 in the activation of microglia and synaptic pruning in the amygdala and hippocampus, the role of complement cascade C3/C3a-C3aR in the interaction between astrocytes and microglia, leading to synaptic pruning, and the C3a-C3aR axis and C5a-C5aR axis to trigger inflammation within the central nervous system. We focus on studies on the role of the complement system in the comorbid mechanisms of chronic pain and depression.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.467-480
• /
• 2008

An aggregation multigrid method (AMM) is a leading iterative solver in solid mechanics. Recently, AMM is applied for solving Schur Complement system in the FE analysis of shell structures. In this work, an extended application of AMM for solving Schur Complement system in the FE analysis of continuum elements is presented. Further, the performance of the proposed AMM in multiple load cases, which is a challenging problem for an iterative solver, is studied. The proposed method is developed by combining the substructuring and the multigrid methods. The substructuring method avoids factorizing the full-size matrix of an original system and the multigrid method gives near-optimal convergence. This method is demonstrated for the FE analysis of several elastostatic problems. The numerical results show better performance by the proposed method as compared to the preconditioned conjugate gradient method. The smaller computational cost for the iterative procedure of the proposed method gives a good alternative to a direct solver in large systems with multiple load cases.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.58-62
• /
• 2022

Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) is a rare disease characterized by microangiopathic hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia, and acute kidney injury without any association with preceding diarrhea. Dysregulation of the complement system is the most common cause of aHUS, and monoclonal humanized anti-C5 antibodies are now recommended as the first-line treatment for aHUS. However, if the complement pathway is not the cause of aHUS, C5 inhibitors are ineffective. In this study, we report the second reported case of aHUS caused by DGKE mutations in Republic of Korea. The patient was an 11-month-old infant who presented with prodromal diarrhea similar to typical HUS, self-remitted with conservative management unlike complement-mediated aHUS but recurred with fever. While infantile aHUS often implies genetic dysregulation of the complement system, other rare genetic causes, such as DGKE mutation, need to be considered before deciding long-term treatment with C5 inhibitors.

• Natural Product Sciences
• /
• v.12 no.3
• /
• pp.129-133
• /
• 2006

Four coumarins (1-4) and one polyacetylene (5) were isolated from the roots of Anglica purpuraefolia Chung (Umbelliferae) through repeated column chromatography. Four coumarins, isoscopoletin (1), oxypeucedanin hydrate (2), arnottinin (3) and isokhellactone (4), and a polyacetylene, (+)-9(Z), 17-octadecadience-12,14-diyne-1,11,16-triol (5), were identified by spectroscopic analysis including two dimensional NMR and mass. These compounds were examined for their anti-complement activity against the classical pathway of the complement system. However, compounds 1-5 were inactive in this assay system.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
• /
• v.28 no.8
• /
• pp.892-896
• /
• 2005

In order to isolate substances that inhibit the hemolytic activity of human serum against eryth-rocytes, we have evaluated whole plants of the Orostachys japonicus species with regard to its anti-complement activity, and have identified its active principles following activity-guided isolation. A methanol extract of the O. japonicus, as well as its n-hexane soluble fraction, exhibited significant anti-complement activity on the complement system, which was expressed as total hemolytic activity. A bioassay-guided chromatographic separation of the constituents resulted in the isolation of three known compounds 1-3 from the active n-hexane fraction. The structure of these compounds were analyzed, and they were identified as hydroxyhopanone (1), $\beta-sitosteryl-3-O-\beta-D-glucopyranosyl-6'-O-palmitate$ (2), and $\beta-sitosteryl-3-O-\beta-D-glucopyranoside$ (3), respectively. Of these compounds, compound 2 exhibited potent anti-complement activity $(IC_{50}=1.0\pm0.1{\mu}M)$ on the classical pathway of the complement, as compared to tiliroside $(IC_{50}=76.5\pm1.1{\mu}M)$, which was used as a positive control. However, compounds 1 and 3 exhibited no activity in this system.

• Natural Product Sciences
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.196-201
• /
• 2008

Five neolignans (1 - 4, 8), two sesquiterpene-lignans (5 - 6), and two phenylpropanoids (7, 9) were isolated from the stem bark of Magnolia obovata Thunberg (Magnoliaceae) by repeated column chromatography. The structures of isolated compounds were identified as 4-methoxyhonokiol (1), obovatol (2), magnolol (3), honokiol (4), eudeshonokiol B (5), eudesobovatol B (6), coumaric acid (7), magnaldehyde B (8), and ${\rho}-coumaric$ acid (9) on the basis of spectroscopic analysis including 2D-NMR and MS data. Compounds 1 - 9 were evaluated for their anti-complement activities against the classical pathway of the complement system. Of them, compound 8 showed significant anti-complement activity on the classical pathway with $IC_{50}$ value of 102.7 ${\mu}M$, whereas compounds 1 - 7 and 9 were inactive. This result indicated that an aldehyde group in the neolignan is important for the anti-complement activity against the classical pathway.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.28 no.7
• /
• pp.649-657
• /
• 1995

From December 1993 to April 1994, to investigate complement activation and pulmonary leukostasis, thirty adult patients were studied during cardiopulmonary bypass[CPB for cardiac surgery in Department of Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgery, Pusan Paik Hospital, Inje University. Total patients were divided into group I and II according to the purpose of study ; Group I was 15 patients undergoing CPB with bubble oxygenator, Group II was 15 patients undergoing CPB with membrane oxygenator. The results of study were summarized as follows.1. The decrease of C3 and C4 levels were observed within few minutes of beginning of CPB in all patients[P<0.05 , and this decrease was proved to be due to complement activation, not by the influence of hemodilution.2. In the correlation between the change of C3 and C4, group I showed linear correlation each other suggesting complement activation occurred through the classical pathway, group II showed a correlation at only partial sampling times suggesting complement activation via both classical and alternative pathway, however there was no significant statistical difference at the change of C3 and C4 concentrations in two groups[P>0.05 .3. After switching to partial CPB, a few difference between right atrial and left atrial WBC count was observed, but statistically not significant and median cell count difference between group I and II was not significant, too [P>0.05 . With the above result, we concluded that CPB itself contributes to the activation of complement system, but bubble oxygenator does not activate always complement system more than membrane oxygenator.