Communication within the membrane during complement activation

膜攻击复合体（MAC）是免疫系统的第一反应者之一。补体蛋白聚集在目标微生物或自身细胞膜上形成孔，溶解病原体并影响组织稳态。虽然已知MAC组装会引起一些关键膜力学性能的变化，但关于导致这些变化的蛋白质-膜相互作用和相互作用以及膜-蛋白共结构对大量其他生理上关键的生物物理膜参数的影响仍然存在重大问题。了解这些生物物理机制对于制定干预补体免疫缺陷的新策略至关重要，补体免疫缺陷对人类健康具有破坏性后果。在这里，我们将使用新开发的方法来研究MAC组装对生物和仿生膜的关键生物物理参数的影响，以及这些变化对后续MAC组装步骤和最终膜破裂的反馈。

The membrane attack complex (MAC) is one of the immune system's first responders. Complement proteins assemble on target microbial or self-cell membranes to form pores that lyse pathogens and affect tissue homeostasis. While MAC assembly is known to cause changes in some key membrane mechanical properties, there remain significant questions about the protein - membrane interplay and interactions that bring about these changes and the impact that membrane - protein co-structuring has on a wealth of other physiologically critical biophysical membrane parameters. Understanding these biophysical mechanisms is critical to developing new strategies to intervene in complement immune deficiencies that have devastating consequences for human health. Here, we will use newly developed approaches to investigate the effect of MAC assembly on key biophysical parameters of biological and biomimetic membranes, and the feedback of these changes on the subsequent MAC assembly steps and eventual membrane rupture.