The degree or quality of being poisonous or harmful to cells.
From cytotoxic + -ity (Latin -itas, suffix forming abstract nouns). Developed as researchers needed to quantify how damaging various substances were to living cells.
Scientists measure cytotoxicity by counting how many cells survive after exposure to a drug—it's like a report card showing how well a medicine kills cancer without being too brutal to healthy tissue. The most promising cancer drugs show high cytotoxicity toward tumors but low cytotoxicity toward normal cells.
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