hemagglutinin

noun

hem·​ag·​glu·​ti·​nin ˌhē-mə-ˈglü-tə-nən 

: an agglutinin (such as an antibody or viral capsid protein) that causes hemagglutination

Examples of hemagglutinin in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The virus would also need to tweak its hemagglutinin, the protein on its surface that locks onto host cells to initiate an infection. —Andrew Joseph, STAT, 11 Aug. 2023

With 18 hemagglutinin and 11 neuraminidase proteins known, the permutations and combinations are many, leading to a high number of variants. —Larry Brilliant, Foreign Affairs, 20 Dec. 2022

To gain access to a host’s cells, influenza uses its own viral glycoprotein, hemagglutinin (H). —Quanta Magazine, 25 Feb. 2020

Viral code The Hs and Ns refer to hemagglutinin (Ha or H) and neuraminidase (Na or N), respectively, which are both viral molecules that hang on the outside of viral particles. —Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 10 Dec. 2019

Krammer used a novel assay to measure the hemagglutinin stalk antibodies. —Debbie Ponchner, Scientific American, 3 June 2019

Current flu vaccines induce the production of antibodies that recognize the hemagglutinin head and inhibit its ability to mediate viral entry into a cell. —Debbie Ponchner, Scientific American, 3 June 2019

Scientists have been sequencing hemagglutinin genes from flu seasons for more than 40 years. —Quanta Magazine, 17 July 2014

Those harmful mutations make hemagglutinin less stable and thus less able to open up cells for invasion. —Quanta Magazine, 17 July 2014

Word History

Etymology

International Scientific Vocabulary

First Known Use

circa 1903, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

hemagglutinin

noun

hem·​ag·​glu·​ti·​nin ˌhē-mə-ˈglüt-ᵊn-ən 

variants also hemoagglutinin

ˌhē-mō-ə- 

or chiefly British haemagglutinin also haemoagglutinin

: an agglutinin (as an antibody or viral capsid protein) that causes hemagglutination

—abbreviation HA compare leukoagglutinin