[Two cases of erythroderma desquamativa treated with cortisone].
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Serum from 27 patients with fulminant hepatic failure and grade IV encephalopathy had reduced ability to stimulate the movement in vitro of normal polymorphonuclear leucocytes. All patients had a deficiency of serum complement factors C3 and C5 and there was a significant positive correlation between C5 and serum stimulatory activity. However, in addition to this complement defect, serum from 22% of patients contained an antagonist to normal serum stimulatory factors. This antagonism was attributed to at least two different substances in the serum on the basis of differences in heat lability, dialysability and action on complement factor C5a. Polymorphonuclear leucocytes from eight of 13 patients had reduced movement toward serum, but serum from only one patient contained an antagonist acting on the cells; this was probably related to an underlying carcinoma of the breast. During the early stages of clinical recovery, serum stimulatory and complement activity returned to normal. These serum and cellular defects have not been reported previously in patients with fulminant hepatic failure and represent major defects in the body's defenses against bacterial infection.
BACKGROUND: Inhibition of the complement cascade at C5 prevents formation of pro-inflammatory molecules C5a and C5b-9, which play a key role in allograft rejection. The present study was undertaken to determine whether blocking terminal complement with anti-C5 monoclonal antibody (mAb) alone or combined with cyclosporine (CsA) would prevent acute vascular rejection (AVR) in a mouse cardiac allograft model. METHODS: C3H mouse hearts were transplanted into BALB/c mice and randomized into five groups with the following treatments: (1) no treatment; (2) CsA alone; (3) control mAb; (4) anti-C5 mAb alone; and (5) anti-C5 mAb and CsA. RESULTS: Allografts in untreated or control mAb-treated recipients were rapidly rejected at 8.0+/-0.6 and 8.2+/-0.8 days, respectively. These grafts exhibited typical AVR, characterized by vasculitis, hemorrhage, and thrombosis. A high level of complement activity was also demonstrated in these animals. High-dose CsA was not able to inhibit complement activation or AVR, and grafts were rejected in 15.5+/-1.1 days. Anti-C5 monotherapy completely inhibited complement activation and attenuated AVR, but grafts were rejected in 8.3+/-0.5 days by acute cellular rejection. In contrast, a combination of anti-C5 mAb and CsA successfully achieved indefinite graft survival (>100 days). This combined therapy completely inhibited terminal complement activation and prevented both humoral- and cellular-mediated rejection. CONCLUSIONS: Combination therapy of anti-C5 mAb and CsA achieves indefinite graft survival in a mouse cardiac allograft model. These data suggest that inhibition of terminal complement using anti-C5 mAb may be an effective therapeutic adjunct to prevent AVR in clinical transplantation.
The mechanisms of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis pathogenesis, a chronic and progressive interstitial lung disease, remain elusive. The complement system, a crucial arm of the innate immune response, plays a pivotal role in several pathological disorders; however, the contribution of individual complement components to lung fibrosis has not yet been examined. Complement factor 5 (C5) and its cleavage product C5a are critical mediators in inflammatory diseases. Thus, to evaluate the role of C5 in lung fibrosis, we compared congenic C5-sufficient and C5-deficient mice in a well-characterized murine model of bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis. C5-deficient mice had an exaggerated inflammatory phenotype compared with C5-sufficient mice during acute bleomycin-induced lung injury. These findings suggest a protective and anti-inflammatory role for C5, which was linked to the regulation of matrix metalloproteinases involved in cell migration. In contrast, C5 had a detrimental effect during chronic stages of bleomycin-induced injury, indicating a profibrotic role for C5. This deleterious activity for C5 was associated with expression of the fibrogenic cytokine TGF-beta1 and matrix metalloproteinase-3, an important mediator in fibroblast contraction. Altogether, our data reveal novel and opposing roles for C5 in both inflammation and tissue repair. Furthermore, these findings provide insight into the development of new therapeutic strategies for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients.
The purpose of this study was to examine normal serum values for the complement components, C3, C4, and C5, and total hemolytic complement (CH50) activity in 163 healthy infants and children, in the age range from birth through 14 years. There were statistically significant relationships of C3, C4, and C5, but not CH50 with age. None of the complement components or CH50 could be differentiated by sex or race. Tolerance limits for high and low values were projected for each complement measurement for 75%, 90%, and 95% of the general population. Our data confirm the differences in complement levels between children and adults and demonstrate a wide range of values within each group, reflecting the biologic variability of complement measurements. These results emphasize the importance of establishing normal pediatric values in any laboratory that measures complement profiles in various diseases of childhood.
Human C3b bound to the ghost of sheep erythrocytes (E*) via activation of the alternative complement pathway (E*AC3b) consists of four major constituents on SDS-PAGE of 350, 260, 210 and 180 kDa. 350 kDa C3b is a dimeric form of C3b in which the alpha' chain of one C3b binds covalently to that of the other C3b. This complex is presumed to serve as a core for the alternative pathway C5 convertase. The other C3b populations are monomers complexed with membrane proteins or sugars. Using E*AC3b (C3b labeled) as a substrate, we have investigated functional properties of membrane cofactor protein (MCP), which is an integral membrane protein with C3b-binding and factor I-dependent cofactor activities. In conjunction with factor I, MCP was found to degrade the protein-bound C3b preferentially including the 350 kDa dimer. There was a similar but lesser tendency of this selective cleavage of C3b-dimer by CR1 but not by factor H or C4bp. In contrast to CR1 and factor H, detergent solubilization of EAC3b was required for MCP to fully express its cofactor activity for this selective degradation of C3b. We next separated the C3b dimer from the monomers and assessed their ability to assemble the alternative C5 convertase. The C3b dimer but not the monomers expressed C5 convertase activity following the addition of factors B and D, C5 and Ni2+. Kinetic analysis of the degradation of the C3b dimer by MCP and factor I suggested that only one C3b was efficiently converted to C3bi and this occurred concomitant with a decrease in C5 convertase activity. These results suggest that MCP has the ability to more efficiently interact with protein-bound C3b and that this may relate as well to its preferential ability to irreversibly inactivate the C5 convertase.
The role of the lytic complement C5b-9 membrane attack complex (MAC) in acute passive transfer experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis (EAMG) produced in rats was investigated by in vivo inhibition of MAC formation with anti-C6 Fab. Anti-C6 Fab totally inhibited in vitro serum hemolytic activity, but did not consume or inhibit early complement pathways. Injection of rats with 0.12 mg/ml anti-C6 Fab reduced serum C6 to 8% and inhibited the muscle weakness, electrophysiologic abnormalities and loss of acetylcholine receptor (AChR) associated with acute EAMG. This level of C6 inhibition reduced the total serum complement hemolytic activity to 29% of normal but did not reduce the serum levels of complement components C3, C5, or C7. Treatment of rats with lower amounts of anti-C6 Fab (0.08 mg/ml) also inhibited clinical and electrophysiologic signs of EAMG, however, the lower amount of anti-C6 did not prevent the loss of muscle AChR. Both the higher and the lower amount of anti-C6 Fab inhibited the accumulation of macrophages at muscle motor end-plates. The inhibition by anti-C6 indicates that muscle weakness and electrophysiologic abnormalities associated with EAMG are dependent on the complement MAC, and that muscle weakness results from tissue injury in addition to loss of muscle membrane and AChR.
The fourth, second and fifth components of mouse complement were purified by a combination of polyethylene glycol precipitation, ion exchange chromatography and gel filtration. The final products were homogeneous on SDS-PAGE, and the activity yields were 8.5% for C4, 32% for C2 and 40% for C5. C4 was composed of three polypeptide chains with mol. wts of 90,000, 78,000 and 32,000. C2 was composed of a single polypeptide chain with a mol. wt. of 115,000 and cleaved by C1s into two fragments with mol. wts of 80,000 and 35,000. The half life of C4b2a was 7 min and was not prolonged by the iodination of C2. C2 activity could not be measured using EAC14hu or EAC14gp cells, but measurement was possible with the use of EAC14mo cells with purified C5 components of mouse complement. C5 was composed of two polypeptide chains with mol. wts of 135,000 and 84,000. This is the first report on the purification of functionally active mouse complement components C4, C2 and C5 from plasma.
The role of complement component C5 in asthma remains controversial. Here we examined the contribution of C5 at 3 critical checkpoints during the course of disease. Using an mAb specific for C5, we were able to evaluate the contribution of C5 during (a) the initiation of airway inflammation, (b) the maintenance of airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR), and (c) sustainment of an ongoing airway response to allergen provocation. Our results indicate that C5 is probably activated intrapulmonarily after infections or exposures to allergen and C5 inhibition has profound effects at all 3 critical checkpoints. In contrast to an earlier report, C5-deficient mice with established airway inflammation did not have elevated AHR to nonspecific stimuli. In the presence of airway inflammation, C5a serves as a direct link between the innate immune system and the development of AHR by engaging directly with its receptors expressed in airways. Through their powerful chemotactic and cell activation properties, both C5a and C5b-9 regulate the downstream inflammatory cascade, which results in a massive migration of inflammatory cells into the bronchial airway lumen and triggers the release of multiple harmful inflammatory mediators. This study suggests that targeting C5 is a potential clinical approach for treating patients with asthma.
We have compared the C5-convertase-forming ability of different C4 allotypes, including the C4A6 allotype, which has low haemolytic activity and which has previously been shown to be defective in C5-convertase formation. Recent studies suggest that C4 plays two roles in the formation of the C5 convertase from the C3 convertase. Firstly, C4b acts as the binding site for C3 which, upon cleavage by C2, forms a covalent linkage with the C4b. Secondly, C4b with covalently attached C3b serves to form a high-affinity binding site for C5. Purified allotypes C4A3, C4B1 and C4A6 were used to compare these two activities of C4. Covalently linked C4b-C3b complexes were formed on sheep erythrocytes with similar efficiency by using C4A3 and C4B1, indicating that the two isotypes behave similarly as acceptors for covalent attachment of C3b. C4A6 showed normal efficiency in this function. However, cells bearing C4b-C3b complexes made from C4A6 contained only a small number of high-affinity binding sites for C5. Therefore a lack of binding of C5 to the C4b C3b complexes is the reason for the inefficient formation of C5 convertase by C4A6. The small number of high-affinity binding sites created, when C4A6 was used, were tested for inhibition by anti-C3 and anti-C4. Anti-C4 did not inhibit C5 binding, whereas anti-C3 did. This suggests that the sites created when C4A6 is used to make C3 convertase may be C3b-C3b dimers, and hence the low haemolytic activity of C4A6 results from the creation of low numbers of alternative-pathway C5-convertase sites.
The binding of human complement components C3, C5 and C9 to the surface of the infective larvae of the nematode parasites Toxocara canis and Trichinella spiralis, by the alternative pathway, was examined by direct and indirect immunofluorescence on the intact parasites. This showed that although C3 bound to both nematodes, they differed markedly in the binding of C5 and C9; C5 bound only minimally to T. spiralis, and C9 binding to this parasite was barely detectable. In contrast, both early and late components bound to T. canis to a high density, comparable to, or in excess of, the binding of these components to the infective larvae of the trematode Schistosoma mansoni. The lack of binding of the post-C3 components to T. spiralis did not correlate with enhanced binding of the control protein, Factor H.
Opsonisation of heat-killed bakers yeast and C3 and C4 concentrations were determined in sera from 69 children with liver disease and 39 controls as simple screening procedures for abnormalities in the complement system. Where significant defects in these moieties were encountered, the activity of the following was measured: total haemolytic complement, C4, C5, total alternative pathway, factor B and D activities were measured. Complement activation was detected by the presence of C3d in EDTA plasma samples. Yeast opsonisation, C3 and C4 concentrations and activities of all complement components measured were significantly (P less than 0.001) reduced in all of 10 children with fulminant hepatic failure (FHF) and six with chronic active hepatitis (CAH). There was no consistent relationship between complement deficiency and standard tests of liver function. C3 breakdown products were identified in plasma from five patients with CAH and complement deficiency but not in three patients with complement deficiencies associated with FHF. Complement concentration and activity improved in children recovering from FHF and in CAH treated by immunosuppressants. Yeast opsonisation index was raised significantly without parallel increase in C3 or C4 concentration in eight of nine children with biliary atresia before surgery and 11 of 13 with alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency regardless of age or the presence of active liver disease. Yeast opsonisation indices became normal after successful surgery in patients with biliary atresia.
The interaction of complement with the following two strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was examined: 144M, a mucoid, serum-sensitive strain bearing short lipopolysaccharide O chains, and 144M-SR, a mucoid, serum-resistant strain bearing long lipopolysaccharide O chains isolated by repeated passage of 144M in increasing concentrations of pooled normal human serum (PNHS). While significant killing of 144M occurred in 5 to 40% PNHS, no killing of 144M-SR was observed. Both strains activated complement, especially 144M-SR which consumed 88.7, 96.4, and 100% of the available complement 3 (C3), C5, and C9, respectively, in 10% PNHS during a 60-min incubation at 37 degrees C. Although it activated more C3 than did 144M (54.9% consumption), 144M-SR bound only half as much C3 as 144M. Similarly, although 144M-SR activated more C9 than did 144M (50.0% consumption in 60 min), there was considerably less C9 attached to 144M-SR (2,990 molecules of C9 per bacterium) than to 144M (13,700 molecules per bacterium) after 60 min of incubation. Furthermore, only 162 molecules of the C9 bound to 144M-SR remained bound after treatment with 0.1% trypsin, while 5,692 molecules of the C9 bound to 144M remained bound under similar conditions. These results show that the serum resistance of 144M-SR does not represent a failure to activate complement efficiently, but instead reflects failure of the assembled terminal complement complex C5b-9 to insert stably into the outer membrane of this strain.
Serum and synovial fluid (SF) levels of the complement components C3, C5, factor B (B), properdin (P), beta 1H and C3b inactivator (C3bINA), and EDTA-plasma and SF concentrations of C3d and Ba were measured in 40 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and 5 patients with osteoarthritis. Decreased SF concentration of B and P and increased levels of Ba showed that increased alternative pathway turnover occurred in RA. Reduced SF C3bINA concentrations occurred, but levels of beta 1H were not reduced. The results showed that alternative pathway turnover was dependent upon C3 turnover, but failed to support the notion that levels of C3bINA or beta 1H control alternative pathway turnover in RA.
Hepatic mRNA levels of the mouse major acute phase proteins serum amyloid P component (SAP) and serum amyloid A component (SAA) were monitored at timed intervals after i.p. injection of thioglycollate or s.c. injection of azocasein. Both mRNA increased dramatically in response to either inflammatory stimulus. The increase in SAA mRNA levels accompanied an abrupt change in mRNA size from 650 to 750 bases. Peak SAA mRNA concentrations were observed 18 h after either stimulus; by 72 h concentrations had returned to preinflammatory levels. Peak SAP mRNA concentrations were observed 8 h after thioglycollate and 12 to 18 h after azocasein injection; by 36 h concentrations were close to preinflammatory levels. All mRNA species studied (SAP, SAA and the complement components C3, C5 and factor B) were induced more rapidly by the thioglycollate stimulus and reached higher peak concentrations. SAP mRNA levels were correlated with other parameters of inflammation: infiltration of peritoneal exudate cells (PEC) into the peritoneum after thioglycollate injection, and serum concentrations of SAP after azocasein injection. Serum SAP concentrations rose 20-fold in response to the latter stimulus by 36 h, i.e., 18 to 24 h after the peak SAP mRNA levels. The highest numbers of PEC were present 24 h after the thioglycollate stimulus, i.e. 16 h after the maximum SAP mRNA concentration, indicating the continuation of an active local inflammation many hours after one aspect of the systemic response has ceased.
Cells of the Raji human lymphoblastoid line, when pretreated with the metabolic inhibitor puromycin were found to be susceptible to killing by the isolated proteins of the complement attack mechanism (C5-9). Incubation of 51Cr-labeled lymphoblastoid cells with purified C56 and C7 resulted in the formation of a lymphoblast-C567 (LC567) intermediate, and the addition of purified human C8 and C9 resulted in release of 51Cr from these cells. Serum C567 inhibitors (C567-INH), purified human lipoproteins, and dextran sulfate, each previously shown to inhibit the attachment of the C567 trimolecular complex to erythrocytes, also inhibited the formation of LC567, and as a consequence, C56-initiated cytotoxicity; the polycation protamine sulfate counteracted the inhibitory effect of dextran sulfate. Thus, the potential for damage of bystander nucleated cells exists when C56 is generated in solution, and is influenced by agents known to modulate the hemolytic activity of C567. It is suggested that these mechanisms may be involved in the control of the function as well as the viability of various nucleated cells.
A sensitive and simple enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay (ELISA) has been developed to measure the terminal complement complex (TCC) in solution. Commercially available antibodies to the native complement (C) components C5 and C9 were used in a double antibody sandwich technique sensitive enough to detect 0.3 microgram/ml of purified TCC. The TCC was not detected in normal human serum (NHS) nor was it generated when sera from patients with a genetic deficiency of functional C5, C7, C8 beta or C9 were activated with cobra venom factor (CVF). If the C8 beta deficient serum was reconstituted with the C8 beta chain and incubated with CVF, TCC were formed and detected by the assay. In in vitro experiments, the TCC was detected in NHS activated by either the classical or alternative pathway even when there was no measurable consumption of C5, C8 or C9. In addition, adaptation of a detergent extraction procedure permitted the quantitation by the assay, of TCC which were generated on sensitized sheep erythrocyte membranes. Experiments to test sample handling conditions showed no generation of TCC in NHS after four freeze/thaw cycles and spontaneous formation only if NHS had been incubated at 37 degrees C for 48 h. The TCC in zymosan-activated NHS were stable at 37 degrees C for 1 week. Patients with C activation associated diseases such as SLE and rheumatoid arthritis had increased levels of TCC that correlated with positive clinical tests for inflammation, even though C levels were normal when measured by routine techniques. These results suggest that this ELISA will provide a valuable tool for studying the role of C in the pathogenesis of C-mediated diseases and in examining the mechanism of tissue injury in in vitro experimental systems.