Inhibition of complement by mouse serum: selective inactivation of the fourth component of human complement.

Bound human C4b on EAC4 is rapidly inactivated in the presence of murine serum reagents. The functional characteristics of this inactivation suggest that it is probably caused by factor(s) homologous to human C3bI-C4bI: inactivation is temperature-dependent and occurs without concomitant consumption of the inactivator(s); loss of hemolytic function is associated with the cleavage of the bound C4b into C4c, which is released, and C4d, which is retained on the cell membrane. Murine serum reagents inhibit bound human C4b far more efficiently than C3b and may therefore be employed to selectively inhibit C4b.