What is the importance of the complement system in immunity?
The importance of the complement system in immunity.
The complement system and its proteins are the key components of the innate immunity, forming a back bone of the adaptive immune system. It functions in all the tissues of the body by providing immediate response to trauma and antigens. It enhances the ability of the antibodies and the phagocytic cells to clear the antigens and the damaged cells.
The complement system consists of a number of small, soluble proteins and glycoproteins produced by the cells of the liver or the hepatocytes. More than 20 types of such complements are found in the serum. They are denoted by the capital letters like C1, C2, C3, C4 and so on. They are normally inactive and get activated in an enzyme cascade in response to recognition of the molecular components of antigens by three different pathways.
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