Figure 3.

Overview of the complement functions in the context of cancer. In a tumor context, the complement system may impact the immunity, angiogenesis and the phenotype of the tumor cells. Immunity: the same complement proteins may impact several immune cells positively or negatively depending of the model or cancer type. The pro-tumoral activity is mostly involved in the recruitment of immune cells and in the suppression of their anti-tumoral response. The anti-tumoral activity is linked to an improvement of the response to therapy and an increase in the immune cells infiltration. Angiogenesis: depending on the model, the complement proteins may promote or hamper tumor growth by favoring or inhibiting the neoangiogenesis. Tumor cells phenotype: by modulating the signaling pathways Erk1/2, AKT and PI3K the complement proteins stimulate tumor growth. In other models, the modulation of other signaling pathway (WWOX and FAS) by complement proteins favor the apoptosis of tumor cells. The figure is created with BioRender.com.