Definition of "squalene" []

• A colorless unsaturated aliphatic hydrocarbon, C30H50, found especially in human sebum and in the liver oil of sharks, that is an intermediate in the biosynthesis of cholesterol and is used in biochemical research. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "In the United States, squalene is used as an adjuvant only in the anthrax vaccine, but in Europe, squalene has been used for a number of years in several different vaccines."
• "A mere 10 ppb concentration of squalene translates into approximately 184 trillion molecules of squalene and an equal number of potentially destructive immune responses."
• "The adjuvant in Pandemrix is called squalene, which is extracted from fish oil."