title: The making of a macromolecular machine: assembly of the membrane attack complex.
abstract: The complement terminal pathway clears pathogens by generating cytotoxic membrane attack complex (MAC) pores on target cells. For more than 40 years, biochemical and cellular assays have been used to characterize the lytic nature of the MAC and to define its protein composition. Although models for pore formation have been inferred from structures of bacterial cytolysins, it was only recently that we were able to visualize how complement components come together during MAC assembly. This review highlights structural analyses of terminal pathway complexes to explore molecular mechanisms underlying MAC formation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, Sir Ernst Chain Building, South Kensington Campus, Imperial College London , London SW7 2AZ, U.K.
authors.forename: Doryen
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bubeck
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015938:Complement Membrane Attack Complex / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D046911:Macromolecular Substances / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000627:therapeutic use; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary
chemical_list: D015938:Complement Membrane Attack Complex; D046911:Macromolecular Substances