disease enhancement

English

Antibodies bind to virions, causing increased infectivity, resulting in increased viral load

Noun

disease enhancement (usually uncountable, plural disease enhancements)

1. (medicine, pathology) A side-effect of a therapeutic treatment, whereby the putative therapeutic agent, instead of alleviating the disease, enhances the pathology. Such as an antibody introduced or incited by the treatment binds to the disease agent, causing it to function better; such as antibodies binding to virus spike proteins and increasing its ability to infect cells.

Related terms

• immune enhancement
• antibody-dependent enhancement