Word.ws English Dictionary

cytokine

/ˈsaɪ.tə(ʊ)(ˌ)kaɪn/US/ˈsaɪ.təˌkaɪn/

cytokine noun: any of various small regulatory proteins that regulate the cells of the immune system.

cytokine: any of various small regulatory proteins that regulate the cells of the immune system
Image: Nevit Dilmen, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

cytokine (plural cytokines)

  1. Any of various small regulatory proteins that regulate the cells of the immune system.
    • Thus, in the case of viral infection, mechanisms of resistance would be threefold, namely, interferon production, the immune response, including both antibody and lymphokine production, and the generation of lymphokine-like substances by the infected cells themselves. These latter substances have...1975 July, Bigazzi PE, Yoshida T, Ward PA, Cohen S., “Production of Lymphokine-Like Factors (Cytokines) by Simian Virus 40-Infected and Simian Virus 40-Transformed Cell”, in The American Journal of...
    • A fundamental feature expressed by the vast majority of cytokines is a profound immunomodulatory activity.
      Many cytokines, presently available in pure recombinant form, modify bone cell metabolism.1991, Maxine Gowen, Cytokines and Bone Metabolism, page 26

cytokine meaning in Indonesian

cytokine in Indonesian

any of various small regulatory proteins
sitokin

Examples of cytokine in a sentence

  • These latter substances have been defined as cytokines.1975 July, Bigazzi PE, Yoshida T, Ward PA, Cohen S., “Production of Lymphokine-Like Factors (Cytokines) by Simian Virus 40-Infected and...
  • The cytokines provide a classic example of products of the immune system which alter brain and endocrine activities.2013, Errol B. De Souza, editor, Preface: Neurobiology of Cytokines: Methods in Neurosciences, volume 16, page xiii:

All 16 example sentences with cytokine

Forms of cytokine

pluralcytokines

Plural of cytokine: cytokines

Origin of cytokine

From cyto- + -kine from Ancient Greek κίνησις (kínēsis, “movement”).

Words formed from cytokine

Phrases with cytokine

Questions about cytokine

What does cytokine mean?
Cytokine means any of various small regulatory proteins that regulate the cells of the immune system.
What is cytokine in Indonesian?
Cytokine in Indonesian is sitokin. See Cytokine meaning in Indonesian.
How do you use cytokine in a sentence?
These latter substances have been defined as cytokines.
What part of speech is cytokine?
Cytokine is a noun.
How do you pronounce cytokine?
Cytokine is pronounced /ˈsaɪ.tə(ʊ)(ˌ)kaɪn/ (UK).
What is the plural of cytokine?
The plural of cytokine is cytokines.

Words near cytokine in the dictionary

  1. cytokeratines
  2. cytokeratins
  3. cytokinaemia
  4. cytokinase
  5. cytokinases
  6. cytokine
  7. cytokine cascade
  8. cytokine cascades
  9. cytokine release syndrome
  10. cytokine release syndromes
  11. cytokine storm

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cytokine (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-cytokine.wav.

Cite this entry: “cytokine.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cytokine. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.