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A Beneficial Antimicrobial Mechanism That Can Cause Disease

Harry S. Jacob, MD

Arch Intern Med. 1978;138(3):461-463.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

As is so frequently the case, "experiments of nature," in which patients lack a normal bodily constituent, educate us to the function of the missing component. Although the plasma complement (C) system was initially recognized by its ability to foster hemolysis of antibody-coated RBCs, the microbicidal activity of the system probably has determined its evolutionary selection. Thus, rare patients who are genetically deficient in C3, a C component that is common to both pathways of C activation—the classical and alternative, are chronically and severely victimized by pyogenic infections.¹

BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF COMPLEMENT-GRANULOCYTE INTERACTION

The C system probably serves mainly to potentiate the capability of granulocytes to kill bacteria, and does so in several different ways. Perhaps most noteworthy is the ability of C3b, a cleavage product that results from activation of C3, to opsonize bacteria and other unwanted particles. Since granulocytes (and monocytes) have receptors for this and other . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
From the Hematology Section, Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis.

Footnotes
Accepted for publication July 28, 1977.

Reprint requests to Hematology Section, Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (Dr Jacob).

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