13072 IUPAC Gold Book - cytotoxic T lymphocyte 10.1351/goldbook.13072 13072 current initialisms: CTL, TC synonyms: CD8+ T cell, cytolytic T cell, cytotoxic T cell, killer T cell 1 Any of a subset of T lymphocytes bearing the CD8 surface marker and able to kill target cells [infected somatic or tumor cells, recognized by the antigen receptor complex (TCR/CD3)] after induction of a specific immune response to the antigens bound to major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules. CD4+ T cells may also become cytotoxic. CD8 https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/12976 T lymphocytes https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/13724 TCR/CD3 https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/12972 antigen receptor https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/12891 major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/13431 target cells https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/13727 PAC, 2012, 84, 1113. 'IUPAC glossary of terms used in immunotoxicology (IUPAC Recommendations 2012)' on page 1154 (https://doi.org/10.1351/PAC-REC-11-06-03) https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13072/html https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13072/json https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13072/plain Citation: 'cytotoxic T lymphocyte' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.13072 The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms. If you are interested in licensing the Gold Book for commercial use, please contact the IUPAC Executive Director at executivedirector@iupac.org . The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using. 2026-07-13T22:59:32+00:00