A transplanted organ suffers inherently from an ischaemic insult and subseq
uent reperfusion injury. The severity of such early events is thought to in
fluence the success of the transplant procedure, not only in the immediate
post-transplant period, but also to predispose the graft to both acute and
chronic rejection. In this paper, we review the influence of the complement
system upon ischaemia/reperfusion injury. The recognition of the involveme
nt of complement has led to novel strategies to try to modulate ischaemia/r
eperfusion injury, some of which we have summarized. Finally, we note our o
wn strategy to target complement inhibition in ischaemic tissues. (C) 1999
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