adoptive immunotherapy

noun

: the transfer of immune cells with antitumor activity into a patient to mediate tumor regression
especially : treatment typically for cancer in which lymphocytes removed from a patient are cultured with interleukin-2 and are returned to the patient's body

Word History

First Known Use

1965, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of adoptive immunotherapy was in 1965

Dictionary Entries Near adoptive immunotherapy

Cite this Entry

“Adoptive immunotherapy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/adoptive%20immunotherapy. Accessed 25 Mar. 2023.

Medical Definition

adoptive immunotherapy

noun
adop·​tive immunotherapy ə-ˈdäp-tiv- How to pronounce adoptive immunotherapy (audio)
: the transfer of immune cells with antitumor action into a patient to mediate tumor regression
especially : treatment typically for cancer in which lymphocytes removed from a patient are cultured with interleukin-2 (as to generate lymphokine-activated killer cells or induce proliferation of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes) and are returned to the patient's body
Known as adoptive immunotherapy, it involves stimulating T cells by exposing them to tumor cells or antigens in the laboratory and then injecting expanded populations of the treated cells into patients. Lloyd J. Old, Scientific American
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