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cytotoxic

British

/ ˌsaɪtəʊtɒkˈsɪsɪtɪ, ˌsaɪtəʊˈtɒksɪk /

adjective

poisonous to living cells: denoting certain drugs used in the treatment of leukaemia and other cancers

"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

Other Word Forms

cytotoxicity

noun

Example Sentences

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cytotoxic

When the body faces infection or cancer, cytotoxic T lymphocytes bind tightly to their target and form the immune synapse.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 30, 2026

The team also discovered that melanoma patients with high levels of HOXD13 had fewer cytotoxic T cells in their blood.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 21, 2026

The drug, daraxonrasib, showed improvements in survival and success compared with standard-of-care cytotoxic chemotherapy in patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma who had been previously treated.

From Barron's ● Apr. 13, 2026

Single-cell analyses show an unusual expansion of cytotoxic CD4+ T cells that behave more like CD8+ immune cells.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 8, 2026

"Many tumors prevent the stem-like T cells from generating cytotoxic T cells in the tumor that could attack the cancer."

From Science Daily ● Apr. 24, 2024

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023