REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Molecular Innate Immunity
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1619835
This article is part of the Research TopicCommunity Series in the Role of Complement in Health and Disease: Volume IIView all 18 articles
Impact of Smoking on the Complement System: A Narrative Review
Provisionally accepted- Texas A&M Health Science Center, Bryan, United States
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Smoking is a major cause of morbidity and mortality, resulting in an increased risk of cardiovascular, respiratory, inflammatory, and degenerative diseases. In this review, we highlight the complex interactions between smoking and activation of different components of the complement system, in order to underscore the notion that its dysregulation underliesmechanistically-as well as exacerbates the progression of a host of disease processes.Moreover, we also briefly delve into components of tobacco smoke-including chemical constituents like tobacco glycoprotein (TGP) and particulate matter (PM), toxic metals, and other mainstream cigarette smoke chemicals-that have been identified as possible culprits in complement activation. In doing so, this review makes important and meaningful contributions to the ongoing efforts of combating the global health crisis posed by tobacco use, all while emphasizing the need for multifaceted strategies that include not only public health measures and educational efforts, but also innovative research that focuses on understanding and mitigating the biological mechanisms underlying smoking-related health conditions. Smoking, complement system, inflammation, cardiovascular disease, lung disease, e-cigarette, tobacco glycoprotein, particulate matterThe complement system is a critical component of the immune system, serving as a bridge between innate and adaptive immunity. It comprises of over 50 glycoproteins, both soluble and membrane-bound, that work together in a complex network of protein-protein interactions. This network functions to recognize and eliminate pathogens through a series of proteolytic reactions that result in key immune processes,
Keywords: Lectin Pathway Alternative Pathway Classical Pathway C3b, FB, fd, P C4, C2 C4, C2 C3 Convertase C3 C3a C3b C5 Convertase C5 C5a C5b C6, C7, C8
Received: 28 Apr 2025; Accepted: 03 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Alarabi, Alshbool and Khasawneh. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ahmed Alarabi, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Bryan, United States
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