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At a site of inflammation, various processes are involved in mounting an appropriate response to the applied stimulus. Two key players in this activity are endothelial cells and circulating immune cells, the interaction of which depends on the activation status of both. Although these cells are the primary actors in the inflammatory response, its regulation largely depends on the release of molecules that either promote or inhibit inflammation progression. Alongside numerous other cytokines involved in the inflammatory process, the complement system plays a critical role in regulating inflammation, primarily through the activity on anaphylatoxins C3a and C5a. However, the precise role of the complement system in inflammation remains to be fully defined.
Previous findings in animal-derived cells have shown that the complement system can modulate the response of specific immune cells, thereby modulating the direction of the inflammatory response. This project aims to investigate these mechanisms in human cells and in vivo models to improve our understanding of how complement activation shapes the inflammatory process in humans.