Translational Mini-Review Series on Complement Factor H: Renal diseases associated with complement factor H: novel insights from humans and animals

Abstract

Summary OTHER ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN THIS TRANSLATIONAL MINI-REVIEW SERIES ON COMPLEMENT FACTOR H Genetics and disease associations of human complement factor H. Clin Exp Immunol 2008; 151: doi:10.1111/j.1365-2249.2007.03552.x Structural and functional correlations for factor H. Clin Exp Immunol 2008; 151: doi:10.1111/j.1365-2249.2007.03553.x Therapies of renal diseases associated with complement factor H abnormalities: atypical haemolytic uraemic syndrome and membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis. Clin Exp Immunol 2008; 151: doi:10.1111/j.1365-2249.2007.03553.x Factor H is the major regulatory protein of the alternative pathway of complement activation. Abnormalities in factor H have been associated with renal disease, namely glomerulonephritis with C3 deposition including membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN) and the atypical haemolytic uraemic syndrome (aHUS). Furthermore, a common factor H polymorphism has been identified as a risk factor for the development of age-related macular degeneration. These associations suggest that alternative pathway dysregulation is a common feature in the pathogenesis of these conditions. However, with respect to factor H-associated renal disease, it is now clear that distinct molecular defects in the protein underlie the pathogenesis of glomerulonephritis and HUS. In this paper we review the associations between human factor H dysfunction and renal disease and explore how observations in both spontaneous and engineered animal models of factor H dysfunction have contributed to our understanding of the pathogenesis of factor H-related renal disease.