cytokine

«cytokine» in Mova's school dictionary: a tiny protein that cells send out as a message… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a cytokine, cytokines)

meaning for a pupil

(science) A cytokine is a tiny protein that cells send out as a message, especially to control the body's immune system when fighting germs. tree →

sense in the lessons

A science and medicine word: when you catch a cold, cells release cytokines that call immune cells to fight the infection; they can also cause fever and tiredness, which is part of how the body fights back. Children may hear it in news about illnesses and vaccines.

examples

• Cytokines tell white blood cells where to go. tree →
• When you have flu, cytokines help cause the fever. tree →
• Scientists study cytokines to make new medicines. tree →
• Cytokines are messages sent from one cell to another. tree →
• Some cytokines calm the immune system down. tree →
• Too many cytokines at once can make a person very ill. tree →

note

Countable, mostly plural: cytokines. Pronounced «SY-toh-kine». «Cyto» means cell; «kine» means movement.

In the corpora

• When fighting an infection the immune system releases chemical messengers, called cytokines, that make you sleepy so the body can save energy.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «cytokine» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.