C1 (Pure)

Product Description

C1 is the first complement component in the cascade referred to as the classical pathway of complement. C1 binds to and is activated by antibodies bound to antigens (immune complexes) yielding a protease that initiates the cascade. C1 is actually a non-covalent complex of three different proteins (C1q, C1r and C1s) bound together in a calcium-dependent complex. C1q binds through two or more of its six arms to the Fc domains of IgG or IgM. The binding of multiple arms to immune complexes is thought to introduce stress which causes the two C1r proteins in the complex (protease zymogens) to auto-activate themselves producing two active C1r serine proteases (Morikis, D. and Lambris, J.D. (2005)). These activated C1r subunits cleave and activate the two C1s protease zymogens in the complex. Activated C1s cleaves complement component C4 releasing C4a and initiating covalent attachment of C4b to the activating surface. Activated C1s also cleaves C2 and the larger fragment of C2 binds to the surface-attached C4b forming C4b,C2a which is the C3/C5 convertase of the classical pathway.

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