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Glossary

ALL - A B C D E G H I K L M N O P Q R S T U W

  • Natural killer cells

    White blood cells that contain enzymes that kill virally infected cells and tumor cells. They also communicate with T-cells to help regulate their development and response. [Patient Resource LLC]

  • Nucleus

    Also known as the cell nucleus. The structure in a cell that contains the chromosomes. The nucleus has a membrane around it (nuclear envelope) and is where RNA is made from the DNA in the chromosomes. [NCI]

 

This is a glossary of selected terms relevant to cancer research. It is designed to help you understand terminology that you may encounter when attending cancer research conferences or reviewing scientific papers.

Several excellent cancer and research-related glossaries are available online and some of these terms and definitions are used in this glossary. To access the full resources, see:

Please note that in our glossary the source for the definition is provided in square brackets after the definition. If other sources are used, these are noted.

We thank Dr. Louisa Salemi, Dr. Barbara Vanderhyden and Alyssa Vito (PhD candidate) for reviewing this glossary.

If there are terms that you would like to see included in the glossary, please forward your ideas to info@ccra-acrc.ca.