Main description:

A team of expert investigators and clinical researchers comprehensively review complement's basic biology, its role in disease, methods to measure its activity, and strategies for its inhibition in patients. Each chapter focuses on a specific area of basic and applied complement biology, spelling out the activation pathways and complement receptors. Informative animal models are discussed in detail, including the relative values of each model and the important interspecies differences that can distort the interpretation of preclinical studies. The emphasis throughout is on the pros and cons of the therapeutic use of recombinant complement inhibitors in specific diseases. Cutting-edge and innovative, Therapeutic Interventions in the Complement System highlights for today's researcher and biotechnologist effective strategies of drug discovery and development that are producing valuable new complement inhibitors for the treatment of a wide variety of clinically important diseases.

Contents:

Complement as a Regulatory and Effector Pathway in Human Diseases, V. Michael Holers. The Regulation of C1 Activation and its Role in Disease, C. Erik Hack. Inhibition of Complement Serine Proteases as a Therapeutic Strategy, Sthanam V.L. Narayana, Y. Sudhakara Babu, and John E. Volanakis. Complement Inhibitors Targeting C3, C4, and C5, Arvind Sahu, Dimitrios Morikis, and John D. Lambris. Complement Anaphylatoxins (C3a, C4a, C5a) and Their Receptors (C3aR, C5aR/CD88) as Therapeutic Targets in Inflammation, Rick A. Wetsel, Jens Kildsgaard, and David L. Haviland. Modulation of Disease Using Recombinant Human Endogenous Complement Inhibitors, Richard J. Quigg. Roles of the Integrins CR3 and CR4 in Disease and Therapeutic Strategies, Yu Xia and Gordon D. Ross. Inhibition of Complement at the Membrane Attack Pathway, B. Paul Morgan. Evaluation of Complement Inhibitors, Patricia C. Giclas. Use of Animal Models to Define Complement Functions, Peter A. Ward, Boris J. Czermak, Markus Huber-Lang, Katherine Diehl, and Hans P. Friedl.