NATURAL KILLER CELLS - BASIC SCIENCE AND CLINICAL APPLICATION

'The Natural Killer [NK] Cell' plays a critical role in regulating the innate and adaptive immune response to pathogens, injury and stress. Although originally portrayed as primarily a lytic cell, the NK cell has emerged as a cell capable of helper function, expansion, contraction, and accelerated memory responses - features similar to other adaptive immune cells. It is a professional accelerator of immunity, mediating dendritic cell maturation and its precursors critical for the origin and development of secondary lymph node structures. NK cells also play an essential role in mammalian placentation by regulating the quality of blood supply to the growing fetus.These characteristics place the NK cell in a unique position, with a major role in sculpting the host response to damage and injury.