Use of complement inhibitors in tissue injury.
A great deal of information has accumulated implicating the complement system in several human disease processes. Although some of this information is circumstantial, protein inhibitors of the complement system have been developed and applied successfully to experimental disease models in animals. Two inhibitors, soluble complement receptor 1 (sCR1) and anti-C5 monoclonal antibody, are now being investigated in a variety of clinical conditions such as systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), diseases for which current therapy has changed little and remains unsatisfactory. Preliminary successes in Phase II clinical trials of RA have provided optimism that complement inhibition might prove useful in these diseases and become part of standard medical therapy.
Quigg
Richard J
RJ
The University of Chicago Section of Nephrology, 5841 S. Maryland Ave, MC5100, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. rquigg@medicine.uchicago.edu
D000818:Animals; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003169:Complement Inactivator Proteins / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003165:Complement System Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D011951:Receptors, Complement / Q000627:therapeutic use
D003169:Complement Inactivator Proteins; D011951:Receptors, Complement; C082885:soluble complement inhibitor 1; D003165:Complement System Proteins