Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Kemper C
PROVIDER: S-EPMC2449358 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jul
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Kemper Claudia C Mitchell Lynne M LM Zhang Lijuan L Hourcade Dennis E DE
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20080625 26
Apoptotic cells must be rapidly eliminated to avoid harmful inflammatory and autoimmune reactions. Innate immunity is designed/poised to identify dying cells by their unique surface-associated molecular patterns. Here we demonstrate for the first time, to our knowledge, that the human complement protein properdin binds to early apoptotic T cells and initiates complement activation, leading to C3b opsonization and ingestion by phagocytic cells. Properdin binding was facilitated by the glycosamino ...[more]