Department of Microbiology I (Immunology), Complutense University School of Medicine and 12 de Octubre Health Research Institute (imas12), Madrid, Spain.
Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Ramiro de Maeztu 9, 28040, Madrid, Spain.
Semin Immunopathol. 2018 Jan;40(1):3-14. doi: 10.1007/s00281-017-0643-z. Epub 2017 Aug 14.
During the last decade, the complement field has experienced outstanding advancements in the mechanistic understanding of how complement activators are recognized, what C3 activation means, how protein complexes like the C3 convertases and the membrane attack complex are assembled, and how positive and negative complement regulators perform their function. All of this has been made possible mostly because of the contributions of structural biology to the study of the complement components. The wealth of novel structural data has frequently provided support to previously held knowledge, but often has added alternative and unexpected insights into complement function. Here, we will review some of these findings focusing in the alternative and terminal complement pathways.
在过去的十年中，补体领域在理解补体激活物如何被识别、C3 激活的意义、C3 转化酶和膜攻击复合物等蛋白复合物如何组装以及正、负补体调节剂如何发挥作用等方面取得了卓越的进展。这主要得益于结构生物学对补体成分的研究贡献。大量新的结构数据经常为已有的知识提供支持，但也经常为补体功能提供了替代性的、意想不到的见解。在这里，我们将回顾其中的一些发现，重点介绍替代途径和末端补体途径。
