Immune System and Allergy Terms

Rather than attacking a disease directly, these treatments change what the immune system is willing to attack, or willing to tolerate.

An antibody linked to a toxic substance.

A radiolabeled monoclonal antibody that is used to detect certain types of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma and is being studied in the detection of other types of B-cell tumors.

ITP is an autoimmune condition in which the body destroys its own platelets, lowering their blood count and increasing the risk of bruising and bleeding.

The immune system's targeted assassin, destroying one marked cell at a time while leaving its healthy neighbors untouched.

A substance taken from a marine organism that may be linked to a specific antigen to boost the immune response to that antigen.

A type of white blood cell that contains granules with enzymes that can kill tumor cells or microbial cells.

Which type is raised matters more than the total, since neutrophils, lymphocytes and eosinophils each point somewhere different.

One word covering two quite different cells: an immature precursor in the marrow, and a mature cell swollen by activation.

These are the cells that remember, which is why a second encounter with the same organism is dealt with far faster than the first.

Lymphocytic describes anything relating to lymphocytes, the white blood cells central to the body's immune response.

One name covers two diseases that differ in nearly everything except the cell they come from: pace, age and urgency.

A condition in which there is a lower-than-normal number of lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell) in the blood.

A condition in which there is a lower-than-normal number of lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell) in the blood.

The adjective tying together lymphocytes, the organs they live in, and the half of blood production that makes them.

Dozens of separate diseases sit under this one word, some watched for years without treatment and others needing care within days.

A condition in which there is a lower-than-normal number of lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell) in the blood.

A single antibody churned out in bulk by one clone of cells, showing up as a narrow spike on a laboratory trace.

A monoclonal antibody that is being studied in the treatment of some types of cancer.

Half scavenger and half messenger: the cell that eats an invader also decides how loudly the rest of the immune system answers.