Abstract
Investigation of the biological effects of the cleavage product, C3a, derived from the third component of complement has generally focused on the effects it exerts as an anaphylatoxin1, that is, smooth muscle contraction2 and histamine release from mast cells3,4 and basophils5,6. Therefore, reports that C3a exerts cytoxic effects on various cell types 7–9, and exhibits concentration-dependent specificity for malignant cells9, excited great interest. The cytolytic activity mediated by macrophages which were activated in vitro may be attributed to their ability to generate C3a10. The far-reaching implications of such a cytolytic role for C3a led us to pursue these observations further. We report here that we have been unable to duplicate the results reported by Ferluga et al.9. On the contrary, we find that C3a actually reduces spontaneous release of label below normal background levels.
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Goodman, M., Weigle, W. & Hugli, T. Inability of the C3a anaphylatoxin to promote cellular lysis. Nature 283, 78–80 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1038/283078a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/283078a0
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