Previous studies indicate a pivotal role for complement in mediating both local and remote injury following ischemia and reperfusion of the intestine. Here, we report on the use of a mouse model of intestinal ischemia/reperfusion injury to investigate the strategy of targeting complement inhibition to sites of complement activation by linking an iC3b/C3dg-binding fragment of mouse complement receptor 2 (CR2) to a mouse complement-inhibitory protein, Crry. We show that the novel CR2-Crry fusion protein targets sites of local and remote (lung) complement activation following intestinal ischemia and reperfusion injury and that CR2-Crry requires a 10-fold lower dose than its systemic counterpart, Crry-Ig, to provide equivalent protection from both local and remote injury. CR2-Crry has a significantly shorter serum half-life than Crry-Ig and, unlike Crry-Ig, had no significant effect on serum complement activity at minimum effective therapeutic doses. Furthermore, the minimum effective dose of Crry-Ig significantly enhanced susceptibility to infection in a mouse model of acute septic peritonitis, whereas the effect of CR2-Crry on susceptibility to infection was indistinguishable from that of PBS control. Thus, compared with systemic inhibition, CR2-mediated targeting of a complement inhibitor of activation improved bioavailability, significantly enhanced efficacy, and maintained host resistance to infection.

The complement system is implicated in promoting acute secondary injury after traumatic brain injury (TBI), but its role in chronic post-traumatic neuropathology remains unclear. Using various injury-site targeted complement inhibitors that block different complement pathways and activation products, we investigated how complement is involved in neurodegeneration and chronic neuroinflammation after TBI in a clinically relevant setting of complement inhibition. The current paradigm is that complement propagates post-TBI neuropathology predominantly through the terminal membrane attack complex (MAC), but the focus has been on acute outcomes. Following controlled cortical impact in adult male mice, we demonstrate that although inhibition of the MAC (with CR2-CD59) reduces acute deficits, inhibition of C3 activation is required to prevent chronic inflammation and ongoing neuronal loss. Activation of C3 triggered a sustained degenerative mechanism of microglial and astrocyte activation, reduced dendritic and synaptic density, and inhibited neuroblast migration several weeks after TBI. Moreover, inhibiting all complement pathways (with CR2-Crry), or only the alternative complement pathway (with CR2-fH), provided similar and significant improvements in chronic histological, cognitive, and functional recovery, indicating a key role for the alternative pathway in propagating chronic post-TBI pathology. Although we confirm a role for the MAC in acute neuronal loss after TBI, this study shows that upstream products of complement activation generated predominantly via the alternative pathway propagate chronic neuroinflammation, thus challenging the current concept that the MAC represents a therapeutic target for treating TBI. A humanized version of CR2fH has been shown to be safe and non-immunogenic in clinical trials.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTComplement, and specifically the terminal membrane attack complex, has been implicated in secondary injury and neuronal loss after TBI. However, we demonstrate here that upstream complement activation products, generated predominantly via the alternative pathway, are responsible for propagating chronic inflammation and injury following CCI. Chronic inflammatory microgliosis is triggered by sustained complement activation after CCI, and is associated with chronic loss of neurons, dendrites and synapses, a process that continues to occur even 30 d after initial impact. Acute and injury-site targeted inhibition of the alternative pathway significantly improves chronic outcomes, and together these findings modify the conceptual paradigm for targeting the complement system to treat TBI.

Local inhibition of complement activation after stroke in mice prevents degenerative microglial activation and improves chronic recovery.

Bioavailability and therapeutic efficacy of soluble Crry, a mouse inhibitor of all complement activation pathways, is significantly enhanced when linked to a fragment of complement receptor 2 (CR2), a receptor that targets C3 activation products. In this study, we characterize alternative pathway-specific inhibitors consisting of a single or dimeric N-terminal region of mouse factor H (fH; short consensus repeats 1–5) linked to the same CR2 fragment (CR2-fH and CR2-fHfH). Both CR2-fH and CR2-fHfH were highly effective at inhibiting the alternative pathway in vitro and demonstrated a higher specific activity than CR2-Crry. CR2-fH was also more effective than endogenous serum fH in blocking target deposition of C3. Target binding and complement inhibitory activity of CR2-fH/CR2-fHfH was dependent on CR2- and C3-mediated interactions. The alternative pathway of complement plays a role in intestine ischemia/reperfusion injury. However, serum fH fails to provide protection against intestine ischemia/reperfusion injury although it can bind to and provide cell surfaces with protection from complement and is present in plasma at a high concentration. In a mouse model, CR2-fH and CR2-fHfH provided complete protection from local (intestine) and remote (lung) injury. CR2-fH targeted to the site of local injury and greatly reduced levels of tissue C3 deposition. Thus, the targeting mechanism significantly enhances alternative pathway-specific complement inhibitory activity of the N-terminal domain of fH and has the potential to reduce side effects that may be associated with systemic complement blockade. The data further indicate alternative pathway dependence for local and remote injury following intestinal ischemia/reperfusion in a clinically relevant therapeutic paradigm.

The complement system is a component of the immune system involved in both recognition and response to pathogens, and it is implicated in an increasing number of homeostatic and disease processes. It is well documented that reperfusion of ischemic tissue results in complement activation and an inflammatory response that causes post-reperfusion injury. This occurs following cerebral ischemia and reperfusion and triggers secondary damage that extends beyond the initial infarcted area, an outcome that has rationalized the use of complement inhibitors as candidate therapeutics after stroke. In the central nervous system, however, recent studies have revealed that complement also has essential roles in synaptic pruning, neurogenesis and neuronal migration. In the context of recovery after stroke, these apparent divergent functions of complement may account for findings that the protective effect of complement inhibition in the acute phase after stroke is not always maintained in the sub-acute and chronic phases. The development of effective stroke therapies based on modulation of the complement system will require a detailed understanding of complement-dependent processes in both early neurodegenerative events, as well as delayed neuro-reparatory processes. Here, we review the role of complement in normal brain physiology, the events initiating complement activation after cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury and the contribution of complement to both injury and recovery. We also discuss how the design of future experiments may better characterize the dual role of complement in recovery after ischemic stroke.

Neurological disorders are major contributors to death and disability worldwide. The pathology of injuries and disease processes includes a cascade of events that often involve molecular and cellular components of the immune system and their interaction with cells and structures within the central nervous system. Because of this, there has been great interest in developing neuroprotective therapeutic approaches that target neuroinflammatory pathways. Several neuroprotective anti-inflammatory agents have been investigated in clinical trials for a variety of neurological diseases and injuries, but to date the results from the great majority of these trials has been disappointing. There nevertheless remains great interest in the development of neuroprotective strategies in this arena. With this in mind, the complement system is being increasingly discussed as an attractive therapeutic target for treating brain injury and neurodegenerative conditions, due to emerging data supporting a pivotal role for complement in promoting multiple downstream activities that promote neuroinflammation and degeneration. As we move forward in testing additional neuroprotective and immune-modulating agents, we believe it will be useful to review past trials and discuss potential factors that may have contributed to failure, which will assist with future agent selection and trial design, including for complement inhibitors. In this context, we also discuss inhibition of the complement system as a potential neuroprotective strategy for neuropathologies of the central nervous system.