The complement system represents an effective arsenal of innate immunity as well as an interface between innate and adaptive immunity. Activation of the complement system culminates with the assembly of the C5b-9 terminal complement complex on cell membranes, inducing target cell lysis. Translation of this sequence of events into a malignant setting has traditionally afforded C5b-9 a strict antitumoral role, in synergy with antibody-dependent tumor cytolysis. However, in recent decades, a plethora of evidence has revised this view, highlighting the tumor-promoting properties of C5b-9. Sublytic C5b-9 induces cell cycle progression by activating signal transduction pathways (e.g., Gi protein/ phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt kinase and Ras/Raf1/ERK1) and modulating the activation of cancer-related transcription factors, while shielding malignant cells from apoptosis. C5b-9 also induces Response Gene to Complement (RGC)-32, a gene that contributes to cell cycle regulation by activating the Akt and CDC2 kinases. RGC-32 is expressed by tumor cells and plays a dual role in cancer, functioning as either a tumor promoter by endorsing malignancy initiation, progression, invasion, metastasis, and angiogenesis, or as a tumor suppressor. In this review, we present recent data describing the versatile, multifaceted roles of C5b-9 and its effector, RGC-32, in cancer.
Keywords: C5b-9; RGC-32; apoptosis; cancer; cell proliferation.