Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
CD4 T cell

CD4 T cell

4.6
A white blood cell that helps the body fight infection by guiding other immune cells
  • noun
  • /siː diː fɔːr tiː sɛl/
  • Specialized
translation icon : célula T CD4
  • In the absence of data, guidelines for starting and switching antiretroviral therapy have taken into account the CD4 T-cell count and HIV-1 RNA viral load as predictors of progression to symptomatic disease.
  • CD4 T-cell model
  • CD4 T-cell data

Examples

  • In a situation where there are low levels of CD4 T cells, this could stop the virus from spreading.

  • We start with the transcriptomic data and chronological ages from the CD4 T-cells of 499 individuals.

    Academic text (2018)

  • This decline in function has been reported in CD4 T-cells 30, 31, which are used in this study, along with changes in the aging transcriptome 32.

    Academic text (2018)

  • The interaction between the antigen on the antigen-presenting cell and the CD4 T cell receptor is highly specific (fig. 2).

    Academic text (1991)

  • In contrast to viral infection, the extent to which IFN-Is regulate or skew CD4 T cell responses in tumors has not been explored in detail.

    Academic text (2017)

  • However, because CD4 T cells and viral load are regularly monitored (typically every 3 months), short-term risk estimates are arguably clinically more relevant than long-term predictions.

    Academic text (2003)

  • The interaction between the antigen on the antigen-presenting cell and the CD4 T cell receptor is highly specific.

  • Once dendritic cells capture a pathogen, they communicate what they have found to CD4 T cells in the lymph nodes, essentially giving the immune system a constant update.

Synonyms

helper cell
vsCD4 T cell
  • Specialized
1 4.9

A white blood cell that helps other immune cells fight infections

is the same cell type but uses a less technical or shorter label
CD4 cell
vsCD4 T cell
  • Specialized
5.1

A white blood cell that helps control the immune system and that HIV attacks

is the same cell type but named using the more formal standard term
helper T cell
vsCD4 T cell
  • Specialized
4.2

A white blood cell that recognizes infected cells and helps other immune cells fight infection

is the same cell type but refers to it with a different common name

Surface Forms

CD4 T cell singular
CD4 T cells plural

Morphology

CD4 + T + cell

The term is partly compositional: CD4 + T + cell literally signals a cell that bears the CD4 protein, so a learner who knows 'CD4' as a protein and 'cell' could infer it is a kind of cell with CD4. However, 'T' abbreviates T lymphocyte and the specialized immunological role (helper T cell coordinating immune responses) is domain-specific and not fully predictable from the parts, so full understanding requires extra background knowledge.

Etymology

CD4 T cell comes from the CD4 protein, which sits on the cell's surface like a small ID tag, and from T cell, the kind of immune cell. Because cells with the CD4 tag 'help' other immune cells fight infection, the name reminds us both of the marker and the cell's job.