Although the complement system-a vital part of the body's defense against bacteria-was discovered more than a century ago, its study has undergone a renaissance with the identification of its regulatory molecules and the realization that these molecules can be used therapeutically. In Complement Methods and Protocols, B. Paul Morgan and a team of expert laboratorians present a comprehensive set of readily reproducible methods to study this critical system. These cutting-edge techniques are suitable both for the basic scientist interested in understanding complement's mechanisms of activation and for the clinical scientist wishing to quantify its activation, and range from the purification of its components to generating complement-deficient mice by gene deletion. Additional techniques presented include procedures for the analysis of complement function, for the study of its regulators, for detection of its activation in vivo, and for the identification of its autoantibodies.
Comprehensive and cutting-edge, Complement Methods and Protocols offers today's basic and clinical investigators powerful tools for the analysis of the role of complement in human pathophysiology and disease, as well as its therapeutic regulation.