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Genome-wide association studies have found variation within the complement factor H gene family links to host susceptibility to meningococcal disease caused by infection with Neisseria meningitidis (Davila et al., 2010). Mechanistic insights have been challenging since variation within this locus is complex and biological roles of the factor H-related proteins, unlike factor H, are incompletely understood. N. meningitidis subverts immune responses by hijacking a host-immune regulator, complement factor H (CFH), to the bacterial surface (Schneider et al., 2006; Madico et al., 2007; Schneider et al., 2009). We demonstrate that complement factor-H related 3 (CFHR3) promotes immune activation by acting as an antagonist of CFH. Conserved sequences between CFH and CFHR3 mean that the bacterium cannot sufficiently distinguish between these two serum proteins to allow it to hijack the regulator alone. The level of protection from complement attack achieved by circulating N. meningitidis therefore depends on the relative levels of CFH and CFHR3 in serum. These data may explain the association between genetic variation in both CFH and CFHR3 and susceptibility to meningococcal disease.

Original publication

DOI

10.7554/eLife.04008

Type

Journal article

Journal

Elife

Publication Date

23/12/2014

Volume

3

Keywords

Neisseria meningitidis, complement evasion, genetic susceptibility, immunology, infectious disease, microbiology, Amino Acid Sequence, Bacterial Proteins, Blood Proteins, Complement Factor H, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, HEK293 Cells, Humans, Meningitis, Bacterial, Molecular Sequence Data, Neisseria meningitidis, Sequence Homology, Amino Acid