title: The complement system in B cell regulation.
abstract: Early studies of animals bearing natural deficiencies in complement C3 and C4 and mice transiently deficient in C3 suggested that the complement system played a role in humoral immunity. Identification and characterization of the complement receptors CD21 and CD35 and their expression on B lymphocytes provided evidence for a direct role for complement in "linkage of innate and adaptive immunity". More recent studies of mice bearing targeted deficiencies in complement proteins C3, C4 or the receptors CD21/CD35 has confirmed the importance of complement in B cell responses in vivo and extended our understanding to distinct stages in B cell differentiation in which complement participates in humoral immunity. In this review, a role for complement is described in five distinct stages of B cell differentiation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, The CBR Institute for Biomedical Research Inc., Harvard Medical School, 800 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115, USA. caroll@cbr.med.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Michael C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Carroll
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000917:Antibody Formation; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000276:immunology; D003165:Complement System Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D017463:Receptors, Complement 3b / Q000276:immunology; D017464:Receptors, Complement 3d / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D017463:Receptors, Complement 3b; D017464:Receptors, Complement 3d; D003165:Complement System Proteins