A screening test for determining the functional activity of the complement system classic pathway

Abstract

The aim of this work was to develop an accessible test for screening the functional activity of the complement system classic pathway. Materials and methods. Blood serum from 90 relatively healthy, overweight (BMI>25) individuals without the metabolic syndrome was studied. Enzyme immunoassay of the complement system functional activity following the classic pathway was performed using a commercial kit. The lysis of antibody-sensitized sheep erythrocytes was evaluated turbidimetrically by a decrease in suspension optical density at a wavelength of 620 nm; the lysis intensity was determined by the calibration curve. Results. A simple screening test was developed to determine the functional activity of the complement classic pathway. A high degree of correlation (r = 0.496) was observed between results obtained by different methods. This screening test for evaluating the functional activity of classic complement system pathway is fast, informative, and available for routine research.