gamma globulin

plural gamma globulins · alternative γ-globulin

1. countableuncountablebiochemistryA class of proteins in the blood, identified by their position after serum protein electrophoresis. The most significant gamma globulins are antibodies.
2. countableuncountablemedicineA fraction of blood serum containing the most antibodies.

   2 more examples

   Then, one day in November 1962, Olivia [Roald Dahl’s daughter] returned home from school with a note from the headmistress at Godstowe, notifying all parents that there was an outbreak of measles. Pat [Patricia Neal, Roald’s wife] and Roald were concerned largely for Theo [their son], because he was still so vulnerable to infection. There was no generic measles vaccination available then… However, Dahl knew that gamma globulin could be used to boost children’s immunity against the disease and that, although uncommon in England, in America it was a fairly routine prophylactic.

   2010, Donald Sturrock, “A Tornado of Troubles”, in Storyteller: The Authorized Biography of Roald Dahl, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, pages 383–384

   The pediatrician Dr. [Philip Rainsford] Evans, who had arrived at the hospital after Olivia died, came early the next morning to Gipsy House and told them [Roald and Patricia] that she [Olivia] had been the victim of measles encephalitis, a rare inflammation of the brain… He confirmed that large doses of gamma globulin could well have prevented her from getting the disease. Thus, Pat remembered, began the “landslide of anger and frustration” that almost buried the family.

   2010, Donald Sturrock, “Breaking Point”, in Storyteller: The Authorized Biography of Roald Dahl, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 388