Quotes About NK cells

In the absence of infection, more than 100 million NK cells are circulating at speed throughout the human body, fully loaded with poisons whose sole function is to kill human cells. This dangerous state of affairs necessitates strict regulation of the activation and implementation of NK-cell cytotoxicity.

NK, or natural killer, cells, which, like macrophages, attack targets like microbes, do not always kill. A 2013 article reports that about half of the NK cells sit out the fight, leaving a minority of them to become what their human observers call serial killers.