immune response

noun

: a bodily response to an antigen that occurs when lymphocytes identify the antigenic molecule as foreign and induce the formation of antibodies and lymphocytes capable of reacting with it and rendering it harmless

called also immune reaction

Examples of immune response in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In people with Crohn’s disease, an abnormal immune response causes colon and intestinal inflammation that leads to symptoms like diarrhea, anemia, and weight loss. —Toby Amidor, Rd, Health, 23 Mar. 2024

But to the doctors, the man was a medical anomaly, someone who had defied official recommendations and turned himself into a guinea pig for measuring the outer limits of an immune response. —Benjamin Mueller, New York Times, 6 Mar. 2024

These medications are designed to target specific proteins present on the surface of cancer cells and stimulate an immune response against them. —William A. Haseltine, Forbes, 1 Mar. 2024

But if the disease can crop up after many different kinds of bugs, then what is the antigen — the molecule, protein, or thing — that’s driving an unrelenting immune response for months to years afterward? —Isabella Cueto, STAT, 21 Feb. 2024

Some of these parts of the adaptive immune response exhibited long-lasting changes. —Celia Ford, WIRED, 14 Feb. 2024

Alopecia areata's inflammatory immune response triggers a premature telogen or late catagen stage within the hair follicles. —Heather L. Brannon, Md, Verywell Health, 27 Jan. 2024

The finding suggested that the man’s elevated immune response could only be kept aloft by revaccinating all the time. —Benjamin Mueller, New York Times, 6 Mar. 2024

In contrast, larger vaccine molecules are too big to enter the bloodstream and can thus travel straight to the lymph system, which is the body’s immune response command center. —Jaimie Seaton, Scientific American, 13 Feb. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1923, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

immune response

noun

: a bodily response to a foreign substance, cell, or tissue that involves the formation of antibodies and cells capable of reacting with it and rendering it harmless

called also immune reaction

Medical Definition

immune response

noun

: a bodily response to an antigen that occurs when lymphocytes identify the antigenic molecule as foreign and induce the formation of antibodies and lymphocytes capable of reacting with it and rendering it harmless

called also immune reaction