Mechanisms of cell signaling in immune-mediated inflammation

Deposition of immune complexes in tissues is the pathogenic mechanism underlying tissue injury in a number of diverse clinical conditions affecting the skin, joints, blood vessels and renal glomeruli. Initial approaches to the understanding of these conditions have stressed the roles of both the activation of the complement system and the accumulation of polymorphonuclear leukocytes as the main molecular and cellular mechanisms explaining the sequence of events leading to tissue damage. Recent findings on (i) the molecular biology of the leukocyte chemoattractants, (ii) the chemical structure and function of receptors for the Fc portion of the antibody molecule and (iii) the signaling events coupled to the engagement of these receptors have led to an understanding of the biochemical events involved in immune-complex injury and have provided a promising avenue for the development of therapeutic approaches. This review will focus on our current understanding of signal transduction events in the effector phase of immune-complex-mediated tissue injury.