Cytotoxicity

Definition
Cytotoxicity is the quality of being toxic to cells.

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

Ways to measure cytotoxicity
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
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 and Complement-dependent cytotoxicity
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.

Cytotoxic lymphocytes
Three groups of cytotoxic lymphocytes are distinguished:
 * Cytotoxic T cells
 * Natural killer cells
 * Natural Killer T cells