Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

epitope

American  
[ep-i-tohp] / ˈɛp ɪˌtoʊp /

noun

Immunology.
  1. determinant.


epitope British  
/ ˈɛpɪˌtəʊp /

noun

  1. the site on an antigen at which a specific antibody becomes attached

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of epitope

epi- + -tope, from Greek tópos “place”; topo-

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The translocatable Tmab-PMPC100 was the best at efficient blood-brain barrier penetration while retaining trastuzumab's epitope recognition, the ability of the antibody to bind to its antigen target.

From Science Daily • Jan. 3, 2024

The word "epitope" means the substance that the immune system recognizes and protects against.

From Salon • Aug. 10, 2022

Others, such as epitope tagging, use antibodies to track marked proteins, revealing their location and abundance in cells and providing hints about their function.

From Science Magazine • Jul. 21, 2022

Antibodies secreted after binding to one epitope on an antigen may exhibit cross reactivity for the same or similar epitopes on different antigens.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

This mAb, derived from B cells of a patient who recovered from SARS-1 in 2003, targets an epitope on the S protein that is conserved in the sarbecovirus family.

From Scientific American • Jan. 6, 2022