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Giant Cells MeSH Descriptor Data 2025


MeSH Heading
Giant Cells
Tree Number(s)
A11.500
Unique ID
D015726
RDF Unique Identifier
http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D015726
Scope Note
Multinucleated masses produced by the fusion of many cells; often associated with viral infections. In AIDS, they are induced when the envelope glycoprotein of the HIV virus binds to the CD4 antigen of uninfected neighboring T4 cells. The resulting syncytium leads to cell death and thus may account for the cytopathic effect of the virus.
Entry Term(s)
Giant Cells, Multinucleated
Multinucleated Giant Cells
Polykaryocytes
Syncytia
Syncytium
Previous Indexing
Cell Fusion (1972-1989)
Public MeSH Note
90
History Note
90
Date Established
1990/01/01
Date of Entry
1989/04/07
Revision Date
2011/06/24
Giant Cells Preferred
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