Antibody

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Antibody \An"ti*bod`y\ ([a^]n"t[i^]*b[o^]d`[y^]), n.
     1. (Med., Physiol. Chem.) Any of various bodies or substances
        in the blood which act in antagonism to harmful foreign
        bodies, as toxins or the bacteria producing the toxins.
        Normal blood serum apparently contains various antibodies,
        and the introduction of toxins or of foreign cells also


        stimulates production of their specific antibodies by the
        immune system.
  
     Note: In certain "autoimmune" diseases, the immune system of
           an organism may produce antibodies to parts of the
           organism's own structure, and can cause considerable
           damage and even death as a result.
           [Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC]
  
     2. (Med., Physiol. Chem.) more narrowly, any of the
        immunoglobulins present in the blood serum or other body
        fluids of an animal, which reacts with a specific
        antigenic substance, whether the antibody was produced as
        a consequence of the stimulus provided by the antigen, or
        was pre-existing prior to exposure of the organism to the
        antigen.
  
     Note: The soluble antibodies present in serum are complex
           globins (proteins) with both constant and variable
           regions in the polypeptide chains, the variable region
           being responsible for the reaction of the antibody with
           its specific antigen. Typically, antibodies of more
           than one structure may react with a given antigen, and
           any given antigen may stimulate production of more than
           one antibody. Methods have been developed to grow cells
           in tissue culture which produce predominantly only one
           specific antibody, and such antibodies thus produced
           (called {monoclonal antibodies}) are highly specific in
           their reactions to molecular strucures, and are used as
           valuable reagents in biochemical technology.
           [PJC.]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  antibody
       n : any of a large variety of proteins normally present in the
           body or produced in response to an antigen which it
           neutralizes, thus producing an immune response

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  82 Moby Thesaurus words for "antibody":
     Rh factor, Rh-negative, Rh-positive, Rh-type, Rhesus factor,
     acquired immunity, active immunity, agglutinin, allergen,
     anaphylactin, antiantibody, antigen, antiserum, antitoxic serum,
     antitoxin, antivenin, arterial blood, artificial immunity, blood,
     blood bank, blood cell, blood count, blood donor,
     blood donor center, blood group, blood grouping, blood picture,
     blood platelet, blood pressure, blood serum, blood substitute,
     bloodmobile, bloodstream, circulation, clinical dextran,
     congenital immunity, dextran, erythrocyte, familial immunity,
     globulin, gore, grume, hematics, hematologist, hematology,
     hematoscope, hematoscopy, hemocyte, hemoglobin, hemometer, humor,
     ichor, immunity, immunization, incomplete antibody,
     inherent immunity, inherited immunity, interferon, isoantibody,
     leukocyte, lifeblood, natural immunity, neutrophil,
     nonspecific immunity, nonsusceptibility to disease,
     opsonic immunity, opsonin, passive immunity, phagocyte,
     phagocytic immunity, plasma, plasma substitute, precipitin,
     racial immunity, red corpuscle, resistance, serum,
     specific immunity, toxin-antitoxin immunity, type O, venous blood,
     white corpuscle