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autoantibody

American  
[aw-toh-an-ti-bod-ee, -an-tee-] / ˌɔ toʊˈæn tɪˌbɒd i, -ˈæn ti- /

noun

Immunology.
  • autoantibodies
    plural
  1. an antibody that an organism produces against any of its own tissues, cells, or cell components.


autoantibody British  
/ ˌɔːtəʊˈæntɪˌbɒdɪ /

noun

  1. an antibody reacting with an antigen that is a part of the organism in which the antibody is formed

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

autoantibody Scientific  
/ ô′tō-ăn′tĭ-bŏd′ē /
  1. An antibody that reacts with the cells, tissues, or native proteins of the individual in which it is produced. Autoimmune diseases are caused by the presence of autoantibodies.


Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of autoantibody

First recorded in 1905–10; auto- 1 + antibody


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

In 2026, researchers reported a 75-year-old man with severe anemia and an anti-AnWj autoantibody.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026

Quadros’s research has found that a specific autoantibody blocks the transport of folate from mother to fetus during pregnancy and when present after birth, the infant’s brain.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2025

Altogether, they and Barcelona colleague Francesc Graus have uncovered 11 of the 18 known varieties: a rogue’s gallery with sharply different symptoms depending on the autoantibody responsible.

From Science Magazine ● May 15, 2024

In systemic lupus erythematosus, a diffuse autoantibody response to the individual’s own DNA and proteins results in various systemic diseases.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022

In adapting the technique to treat autoimmune disease, the team gave T cells a beacon derived from bits of the anti-DSG3 autoantibody, which leads the killers straight to anti-DSG3 B cells.

From Scientific American ● Sep. 20, 2021

These individuals were identified through blood tests that detected specific autoantibodies associated with the disease.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 1, 2026

The attack is driven in part by anti-NMDA receptor autoantibodies.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 25, 2026

Children without autoantibodies are unlikely to develop type 1 diabetes.

From BBC ● Jan. 20, 2026

The finger-prick blood test checks for autoantibodies - proteins that the immune system makes which can attack the body's own tissues.

From BBC ● Jan. 20, 2026

Two decades ago, Dalmau says, detecting those autoantibodies in the CSF of several young women “was a eureka moment.”

From Science Magazine ● May 15, 2024

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