Complement Membrane Attack Complex

**Definition:** A product of COMPLEMENT ACTIVATION cascade, regardless of the pathways, that forms transmembrane channels causing disruption of the target CELL MEMBRANE and cell lysis. It is formed by the sequential assembly of terminal complement components (COMPLEMENT C5B; COMPLEMENT C6; COMPLEMENT C7; COMPLEMENT C8; and COMPLEMENT C9) into the target membrane. The resultant C5b-8-poly-C9 is the membrane attack complex or MAC.

**Tree numbers:** - D12.776.124.486.274.930

**Synonyms:** - C 5b-9 - C5b-8-poly-C9 - C5b-9 - Complement Complex C5b-9 - Cytolytic Terminal Complement Complex - Membrane Attack Complex - Terminal Complement Complex