CTLt

CTLt is an acronym used in various scholarly and technical texts, but it does not have a single, universally accepted meaning. The term is not standardized in major glossaries, and its precise sense is determined entirely by the surrounding context in which it appears.

In immunology contexts, CTL commonly stands for cytotoxic T lymphocytes. When readers encounter CTLt, the accompanying lowercase t is typically used by authors to signal a qualifier such as a subtype, transcript, target, or model variable. However, there is no consensus on what the added “t” represents, and different articles may adopt different expansions. This variability can create ambiguity when CTLt is not explicitly defined in the source.

Disambiguation guidance for CTLt includes checking the abstract, introduction, methods, and figure captions for a formal definition. If the term is defined, the exact meaning should be cited or explained in the text. If the definition is not provided, readers should infer meaning from the discussion and, where possible, consult the cited sources to determine how the authors intend CTLt.

Because CTLt can refer to different concepts across fields, readers should treat it as a contextual label rather than a fixed term. For clarification, always rely on the original source’s definition and usage.

See also: cytotoxic T lymphocytes, glossary of immunology terms.