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CD8 T cell

CD8 T cell

4.6
A kind of immune cell that finds and kills cells infected by viruses
  • noun
  • /siː diː eɪt tɪ ˈsɛl/
  • Specialized
translation icon : célula T CD8
  • In studies, researchers found that CD8 T cells were effective in eliminating cancer cells in the laboratory.
  • antiviral CD8 T cells
  • CD8 T cell response
  • CD8 T cell function

Examples

  • CD8 T Cells: Activating, Sustaining, and Wearing Down the Effectors

    Academic text (2017)
  • After the vaccine, the body produced a robust response from the CD8 T cells, enhancing protection against the virus.

  • However, direct survival effects of IFN-I have also been reported on intratumoral CD8 T cells.

    Academic text (2017)
  • Due to their direct lysis of infected and cancer cells, the majority of effort to understand immune exhaustion has focused on CD8 T cells.

    Academic text (2017)
  • In addition, early IFN-I signaling drives the acquisition of CD8 T cell cytolytic function 61, 62, 65.

    Academic text (2017)
  • Interestingly, the effect of IFN-Is was not directly on the B cells themselves, but rather IFN-Is directly stimulated CD8 T cells to kill LCMV-specific B cells 65.

    Academic text (2017)
  • The decrease in immune activation was accompanied by increased anti-HIV CD8 T cell responses and a reduction in HIV titers and infected cells 132.

    Academic text (2017)
  • Granulomatous lesions contain abundant macrophages and, as might be expected for cross-sectional studies, variable numbers of CD4 and CD8 T cells.

    Academic text (1991)
  • In cancer, IFN-Is have also been shown to enhance antitumor CD8 T cell effector function ex vivo by increasing their killing ability, which presumably accounted for the better tumor control upon adoptive transfer.

    Academic text (2017)
  • CD8 T cells are crucial for the immune system, as they recognize and kill virus-infected cells.

Synonyms

killer cell
vsCD8 T cell
  • Specialized
1 4.3

A white blood cell that finds and kills virus-infected cells

emphasizes binding to surface antigens to recognize and kill them
cytotoxic T cell
vsCD8 T cell
  • Specialized
5.5

A white blood cell with a CD8 marker that kills infected or cancer cells

highlights recognition by surface antigens before killing infected cells
CD8 cell
vsCD8 T cell
  • Specialized
5.5

A type of white blood cell that finds and kills virus-infected or abnormal cells

is narrower, acting mainly against virus infected cells rather than all abnormal ones
killer T cell
vsCD8 T cell
  • Specialized
5.2

A white blood cell that finds and destroys virus-infected or cancerous body cells

focuses mainly on virus infected cells, not necessarily cancerous targets

Surface Forms

CD8 T cell singular
CD8 T cells plural

Morphology

CD8 + T + cell

The form 'CD8 T cell' is compositionally built from the constituents (CD8 + T + cell) so a learner who knows that CD8 is a membrane protein and that a T cell is an immune cell can infer this denotes a subtype of T cell marked by CD8 and related to immune response. However, the specific functional details (e.g., recognising and killing virus-infected cells) are technical biological knowledge not directly derivable from the labels alone, so full meaning is not immediately predictable to a B1 learner.

Etymology

CD8 T cell: The name CD8 T cell comes from the small protein CD8 on the cell's surface that acts like a 'key' to spot infected cells. The term T cell shows it is a type of immune cell that hunts and kills invaders, so the name tells us this cell finds and destroys virus-infected cells.