Journal article
The structure and function of mammalian membrane-attack complex/perforin-like proteins
SC Kondos, T Hatfaludi, I Voskoboinik, JA Trapani, RHP Law, JC Whisstock, MA Dunstone
TISSUE ANTIGENS | WILEY | Published : 2010
Abstract
The membrane-attack complex (MAC) of complement pathway and perforin (PF) are important tools deployed by the immune system to target pathogens. Both perforin and the C9 component of the MAC contain a common 'MACPF' domain and form pores in the cell membrane as part of their function. The MAC targets gram-negative bacteria and certain pathogenic parasites, while perforin, released by natural killer cells or cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs), targets virus-infected and transformed host cells (1). Remarkably, recent structural studies show that the MACPF domain is homologous to the pore-forming portion of bacterial cholesterol-dependent cytolysins; these data have provided important insight into ..
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Funding Acknowledgements
SCK is supported by an Australian Postgraduate Scholarship, MAD is a National Health and Medical Council (NHMRC) Career Development Fellow, JCW is an ARC Federation Fellow and an honorary NHMRC Principal Research Fellow, IV is an NHMRC Career Development Fellow, and JAT is an NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow. We thank the NHMRC and the Australian Research Council for project and Program Grant support.