Metallica One

The binding of C1 to antigen-antibody complexes that contain immunoglobulin M (IgM) or immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies (subclasses IgG1, IgG2, and IgG3) activates the classical pathway. Only these Ig isotypes have complement-binding sites in the Fc portion (CH2 domain of IgG and CH3 domain of IgM).



C1 is a large multimeric protein complex composed of 3 subunits: C1q, C1r, and C1s. C1r and C1s are serine esterases. The C1q must bind to the 2 Fc portions of immunoglobulin (Ig) heavy chains to initiate the complement cascade. The binding of C1q to the immune complex leads to enzymatic activation of C1r, which, in turn, cleaves and activates C1s. Activated C1s cleaves C4 into C4a and C4b. A single activated C1s can cleave numerous molecules of C4. This process leads to continuous formation of C4b but is inhibited by C1 esterase inhibitor enzyme (C1INH). Deficiency of C1INH leads to uninhibited formation of C4b and C4a.



C4b has an internal thioester bond that allows C4b to form covalent amide or ester linkages with the immune complex or the cells coated with antibodies. C2 then complexes with immune complex or cell surface–bound C4b and is cleaved into C2a (soluble component) and C2b by C1s. The C2b remains physically associated with C4b on the target cell surface, forming classical pathway C3 convertase (C4bC2b) that proteolytically cleaves C3 into C3a and C3b.



Once C3 is cleaved, all 3 complement activation pathways share the same terminal complement components (C5-C9). The classical pathway is important in antigen-specific adaptive immune defense because it is activated by antigen-antibody complexes. Complement activation via the classical pathway effectively lyses antibody-coated pyogenic bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae and cells coated with antibodies (often microbe-infected cells).