Abstract
The complement system is a potent recognition and effector pathway that plays a major role in the immune response. It mediates the destruction and disposal of immune complexes and foreign substances through interactions between complement proteolytic fragments deposited on targets and complement receptors on cell surfaces. To faciliate this process, and to prevent damage to self-tissue, a remarkable family of control proteins (the regulators of complement activation or RCA proteins) has evolved (see recent reviews of Hourcade et al., 1989; Campbell et al., 1988 and Reid and Day, 1989). Each member interacts with a derivative of C4 and/or C3, shares a repeating polypeptide motif, and is encoded at a single genetic region, the RCA cluster.
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