ABSTRACT
The formation of circulating antigen-antibody complexes (immune complexes [ICs]) is one of the natural events that characterize the immunologic response against soluble antigens. While this is usually an intermediate step leading to the beneficial elimination of non-self entities, it may also have pathogenic consequences, first described as serum sickness resulting from the injection of horse antisera. The scope of pathogenic implications of IC has expanded to postinfectious complications, autoimmune diseases, and chronic inflammatory diseases. In this chapter, we describe the pathogenic characteristics of IC involved in human pathological conditions as well as the steps involved in their pathogenicity. Host factors that facilitate the pathogenesis of IC are described. The chapter closes with an overview of methods used to detect IC, clinical expressions of IC disease, and therapeutic approaches for the treatment of IC disease.
