a team of expert investigators and clinical researchers comprehensively review complements basic biology, its role in disease, methods to measure its activity, and strategies for its inhibition in patients. each chapter focuses on a specific area of basic and applied complement biology, spelling out the activation pathways and complement receptors. informative animal models are discussed in detail, including the relative values of each model and the important interspecies differences that can distort the interpretation of preclinical studies. the emphasis throughout is on the pros and cons of the therapeutic use of recombinant complement inhibitors in specific diseases. cutting-edge and innovative, therapeutic interventions in the complement system highlights for todays researcher and biotechnologist effective strategies of drug discovery and development that are producing valuable new complement inhibitors for the treatment of a wide variety of clinically important diseases.