Natural killer cells
Short description
Natural killer cells are lymphocytes belonging to the innate part of the immune system, that directly kill virus infected cells and tumor cells.
Synonyms
NK cells
Detailed description
Usually, the immune system can easily detect infected cells because they present pathogen fragments together with so-called MHC molecules on their surface. However, some viruses and tumor cells are able to reduce MHC expression. It is this lack of MHC that is detected by natural killer cells, which then kill these cells.
