memory cell

American  

noun

Immunology.

1. any small, long-lived lymphocyte that has previously encountered a given antigen and that on reexposure to the same antigen rapidly initiates the immune response memory T cell or proliferates and produces large amounts of specific antibody memory B cell: the agent of lasting immunity.

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memory cell Cultural  

1. A cell in the immune system that, when exposed to an invading pathogen, replicates itself and remains in the lymph nodes searching for the same antigen, resulting in a more efficient and rapid response to any subsequent attack.

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The creation of memory cells is one of the main goals of vaccination.

Example Sentences

They found that in the absence of FOXO1, human CAR T cells lose their ability to form a healthy memory cell or protect against cancer in an animal model, supporting the notion that FOXO1 controls memory and antitumor activity.

From Science Daily

They added, however, that after the pathogen is eliminated, effector cells can, in essence, change their minds and decide late to join the memory cell pool.

From Science Daily

"What we've discovered," says Pobezinsky, "is that a tiny piece of miRNA, let-7, which has been handed down the evolutionary tree since the dawn of animal life, is highly expressed in memory cells, and that the more let-7 a cell has, the less chance that it will be tricked by cancerous tumor cells, and the greater chance it has of turning into a memory cell."

From Science Daily

If the memory cell isn't tricked by the cancer, then it can fight and, crucially, remember what that cancerous cell looks like.

From Science Daily

So the virus “is not in the background, messing up memory cell formation,” he said.

From New York Times