Kinoid

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An immunogenic preparation containing a biologically inactivated cytokine, used experimentally as a form of vaccination to induce the production of antibodies against overproduced cytokines in several immune-related conditions (e.g. systemic lupus erythematosus, AIDS and Crohn's disease).

    "For this purpose, IFN alpha was chemically converted into a biologically inactive, but still immunogenic product, which we termed “kinoid”, reminiscent of that of bacterial toxins which have been transformed into toxoids for vaccination. […] Active “kinoid” immunization should permit to counteract the overproduction of the corresponding cytokine when involved in pathogenesis."

Example

More examples

"For this purpose, IFN alpha was chemically converted into a biologically inactive, but still immunogenic product, which we termed “kinoid”, reminiscent of that of bacterial toxins which have been transformed into toxoids for vaccination. […] Active “kinoid” immunization should permit to counteract the overproduction of the corresponding cytokine when involved in pathogenesis."

Etymology

From (cyto)kine + -oid, modelled on toxoid. Coined by Bernard Bizzini and A. Achour in 1995.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.