lentivirus

American  

[len-tuh-vahy-ruhs] / ˈlɛn təˌvaɪ rəs /

noun

plural

lentiviruses

1. any slow virus of the genus Lentivirus, of the retrovirus family, causing brain disease in sheep and other animals.

---

lentivirus British  

/ ˈlɛntɪˌvaɪrəs /

noun

1. any of a group of slowly acting viruses that includes the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS

---

Etymology

Origin of lentivirus

lenti(cular) + virus

Example Sentences

In 2025 my company, Umoja Biopharma, treated leukemia and lymphoma patients using an in vivo lentivirus.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 1, 2026

The researchers then used a lentivirus to insert DNA into microglial cells at the site of the injury.

From Science Daily • Oct. 18, 2023

It was this type of treatment, as part of the largest lentivirus ongoing gene therapy trial led by Bluebird Bio, that effectively arrested Colón’s sickle cell condition.

From Scientific American • Jul. 17, 2021

Like Bluebird Bio’s investigators, Williams and his colleagues are using a disabled lentivirus to deliver a gene to sickle cell patients.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 10, 2021

He also engineered a lentivirus to express mutated versions of the spike protein and found that the deletion alone made that virus twice as infectious.

From Science Magazine • Dec. 20, 2020