Antialexin

/ˌæntiəˈleksɪn/ noun

Definition

A substance that opposes or neutralizes alexin (a type of antibody in blood serum).

Etymology

Medical term: 'anti-' plus 'alexin' (from Greek 'alexein' meaning to ward off, used for complement proteins in blood). Used in early 20th-century immunology when antibody functions were being mapped.

Kelly Says

Alexins were one of the first named components of the immune system—calling them 'ward-off' substances shows how ancient medical thinking imagined immunity as protection, and 'antialexin' extends that metaphor to substances that oppose this defense.

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