The Complement System is used by Tumors to fend-off the Immune System. (IMAGE)

InsideOutBio

The Complement System is used by Tumors to fend-off the Immune System.

Caption

Immune cells need to be close enough to a tumor (within 150 Å) for a synapse to form and for them to undergo activation. Tumors use the extended form of complement receptor 3 (CR3) and the "I belong" tag iC3b to keep immune cells at a distance. The stiff-arm fend off protects the cancer cell from attack. In contrast, therapeutics can enhance synapse formation and tumor killing by increasing the "I don't belong" C3d tag levels in the contact zone, locking in the flexed CR3 conformation. The iC3b and C3d tags are different breakdown products of the Component Protein C3.

Credit

Alan Herbert

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Credit: Alan Herbert @InsideOutBio

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