Influence of membrane surface charge on adsorption of complement proteins onto supported lipid bilayers

The complement system is an important part of the innate immune response, and there is great interest in understanding how complement proteins interact with lipid membrane interfaces, especially in the context of recognizing foreign particulates (e.g., liposomal nanomedicines). Herein, a supported lipid bilayer platform was employed in order to investigate the effect of membrane surface charge (positive, negative, or neutral) on the adsorption of three complement proteins. Quartz crystal microbalance-dissipation (QCM-D) experiments measured the real-time kinetics and total uptake of protein adsorption onto supported lipid bilayers. The results demonstrate that all three proteins exhibit preferential, mainly irreversible adsorption onto negatively charged lipid bilayers, yet there was also significant variation in total uptake and the relative degree of adsorption onto negatively charged bilayers versus neutral and positively charged bilayers. The total uptake was also observed to strongly depend on the bulk protein concentration. Taken together, our findings contribute to a broader understanding of the factors which influence adsorption of complement proteins onto lipid membranes and offer guidance towards the design of synthetic lipid bilayers with immunocompetent features.