Another strategy employed by pathogens is to secrete proteins that directly inhibit components of complement. The Gram-positive pathogen Staphylococcus aureus provides several examples of this type of strategy. Staphylococcal protein A (Spa) binds to the Fc regions of immunoglobulins and interferes with the recruitment and activation of C1. This binding specificity was used as an early biochemical technique in the purification of antibodies. The staphylococcal protein staphylokinase (SAK) acts by cleaving immunoglobulins bound to the pathogen membrane, preventing complement activation and avoiding phagocytosis. The staphylococcal complement inhibitor (SCIN) protein binds to the classical C3 convertase, C4b2a, and the alternative pathway C3 convertase, C3bBb, and inhibits their activity. Other stages of complement activation, including formation of the C5 convertase, are targets of inhibition by proteins produced by these and other pathogens. We will return to this topic of complement regulation in Chapter 13 when we discuss how the immune system sometimes fails or is evaded by pathogens.
Summary.
The complement system is one of the major mechanisms by which pathogen recognition is converted into an effective host defense against initial infection. Complement is a system of plasma proteins that can be activated directly by pathogens or indirectly by pathogen-bound antibody, leading to a cascade of
The complement system and innate immunity.
reactions that occurs on the surface of pathogens and generates active components with various effector functions. There are three pathways of complement activation: the lectin pathway, triggered by the pattern recognition receptors MBL and the ficolins; the classical pathway, triggered directly by antibody binding to the pathogen surface; and the alternative pathway, which utilizes spontaneous C3 deposition onto microbial surfaces, is augmented by proper-din, and provides an amplification loop for the other two pathways. The early events in all pathways consist of a sequence of cleavage reactions in which the larger cleavage product binds covalently to the pathogen surface and contributes to the activation of the next component. The pathways converge with the formation of a C3 convertase enzyme, which cleaves C3 to produce the active complement component C3b. The binding of large numbers of C3b molecules to the pathogen is the central event in complement activation. Bound complement components, especially bound C3b and its inactive fragments, are recognized by specific complement receptors on phagocytic cells, which engulf pathogens opsonized by C3b and its inactive fragments. The small cleavage fragments of C3 and C5 act on specific trimeric G-protein-coupled receptors to recruit phagocytes, such as neutrophils, to sites of infection. Together, these activities promote the uptake and destruction of pathogens by phagocytes. The molecules of C3b that bind the C3 convertase itself initiate the late events of complement, binding C5 to make it susceptible to cleavage by C2a or Bb. The larger C5b fragment triggers the assembly of a membrane-attack complex, which can result in the lysis of certain pathogens. A system of soluble and membrane-bound complement-regulatory proteins act to limit complement activation on host tissues, in order to prevent tissue damage from the inadvertent binding of activated complement components to host cells or from the spontaneous activation of complement components in plasma. Many pathogens produce a variety of soluble and membrane-associated proteins that can counteract complement activation and contribute to infection of the host by the microbe.
Summary to Chapter 2.