Oxidants generated by the myeloperoxidase-halide system activate the fifth component of human complement, C5.

Hypochlorite and taurine chloramine (T-NCI) convert native fifth component of human complement (C5) to an activated state. This is evident from loss of functional properties of native C5 and acquisition of a binding site for C6 which is characteristic of C5b, the physiological activation fragment of C5. The complex of activated C5 with C6 is capable of combining with the components C7, C8, and C9 forming the cytotoxic terminal complement complex C5-9. The activation of C5 and its assembly with the late reacting complement components has been detected by reactive lysis, i.e. hemolysis of unsensitized red cells upon incubation with the activated C5 and the reacting complement components C6-C9. T-NCl does, however, not cleave any peptide bond in C5 as happens in the physiological activation process but converts the intact protein to the activated form. The conversion is accompanied and probably caused by oxidation of methionine residues in the C5 protein to methionine sulfoxide. Since hypochlorite and T-NCl are biological products generated by the myeloperoxidase-halide system of stimulated leukocytes, the activation of C5 by these agents may be one way to complement activation during inflammation and tissue injury.