Cytotoxicity

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Cytotoxicity is the quality of being toxic to cells.

Examples of toxic agents are a chemical substance or an immune cell.

Cytotoxicity can be measured by the MTT assay, Trypan blue (TB) assay, Sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay, WST assay and clonogenic assay.

Antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) describes the cell-killing ability of certain lymphocytes, which requires the target cell being marked by an antibody.

Lymphocyte-mediated cytotoxicity, on the other hand, does not have to be mediated by antibodies; nor does complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC), which is mediated by the complement system.

Three groups of cytotoxic lymphocytes are distinguished:

• Cytotoxic T cells
• Natural killer cells
• Natural Killer T cells

• Cytotoxins at the US National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)

de:Zytotoxizität no:Cellegift

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