Inhibition of vertebrate complement system by hematophagous arthropods: inhibitory molecules, mechanisms, physiological roles, and applications
Mauricio Roberto Vianna Sant’Anna , Adalberto Alves Pereira-Filho , Antonio Ferreira Mendes-Sousa , Naylene Carvalho Sales Silva , Nelder Figueiredo Gontijo , Marcos Horácio Pereira , Leonardo Barbosa Koerich , Grasielle Caldas D’Avila Pessoa , John Andersen , Ricardo Nascimento Araujo
Insect Science ›› 2024, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (5) : 1334 -1352.
Inhibition of vertebrate complement system by hematophagous arthropods: inhibitory molecules, mechanisms, physiological roles, and applications
In arthropods, hematophagy has arisen several times throughout evolution. This specialized feeding behavior offered a highly nutritious diet obtained during blood feeds. On the other hand, blood-sucking arthropods must overcome problems brought on by blood intake and digestion. Host blood complement acts on the bite site and is still active after ingestion, so complement activation is a potential threat to the host’s skin feeding environment and to the arthropod gut enterocytes. During evolution, blood-sucking arthropods have selected, either in their saliva or gut, anticomplement molecules that inactivate host blood complement. This review presents an overview of the complement system and discusses the arthropod’s salivary and gut anticomplement molecules studied to date, exploring their mechanism of action and other aspects related to the arthropod–host–pathogen interface. The possible therapeutic applications of arthropod’s anticomplement molecules are also discussed.
alternative pathway / classical pathway / complement inhibitors / hematophagy / intestine / salivary gland
2024 Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
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