Pharmacological manipulation of complement system

An attempt has been made in this review to assemble the disjointed literature regarding the synthetic inhibitors of complement. Toxic as well as relatively less toxic complement inhibitors have been included in this review with the belief that once the types of structures that can inhibit complement components are known, attempts can be made to design and develop less toxic analogues. A description of the classical and alternative pathways has been omitted as very good reviews on these subjects have been published recently. A review on earlier literature on complement inhibitors with special reference to aromatic amino acids was presented by Becker and excellent reviews have been published recently by Johnson, Reynard, and Patrick and Johnson.