natural killer cell

natural killer cell noun: any cell that expresses cell surface receptors that deliver signals to either activate or inhibit a response as part of the innate immune system.

Noun

natural killer cell (plural natural killer cells)

Any cell that expresses cell surface receptors that deliver signals to either activate or inhibit a response as part of the innate immune system.
- While such information doesn't assist us in deciding whether natural killer cells derive from a macrophage or T cell lineage, it does tell us that the mouse natural killer cell system is a thymus dependent system.1982, Gustavo Cudkowicz, “Regulation of Natural Cytotoxic Activity”, in Sigurd J. Normann, Ernst Sorkin, editors, Macrophages and Natural Killer Cells, Plenum Press, page 767
- Natural killer cell activity is currently an area of active interest in cellular immunology (Herberman 1981).1984, Meir Kende, Joseph Gainer, Michael A. Chirigos (editors), Chemical Regulation of Immunity in Veterinary Medicine: Proceedings of a Symposium, A. R. Liss, page 138
Synonyms:

large granular lymphocyte, NK, NK cell

natural killer cell meaning in Indonesian

natural killer cell in Indonesian

cell that expresses cell surface receptors that deliver signals to either activate or inhibit a response: sel pembunuh alami

Synonyms of natural killer cell

large granular lymphocyte
NK
NK cell

Forms of natural killer cell

plural	natural killer cells

Origin of natural killer cell

The description "natural killer" refers to the fact that they do not require activation to kill cells missing MHC class I "self" markers.

Questions about natural killer cell

What does natural killer cell mean?: Natural killer cell means any cell that expresses cell surface receptors that deliver signals to either activate or inhibit a response as part of the innate immune system.
What is natural killer cell in Indonesian?: Natural killer cell in Indonesian is sel pembunuh alami. See Natural killer cell meaning in Indonesian.
What part of speech is natural killer cell?: Natural killer cell is a noun.
What is the plural of natural killer cell?: The plural of natural killer cell is natural killer cells.

Words near natural killer cell in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: natural killer cell (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “natural killer cell.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/natural_killer_cell. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.