Title: natural killer cell
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - natural killer cell
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.13499
Status: current

Definition
Large granular lymphocyte which does not rearrange nor express either immunoglobulin or T-cell receptor (TCR) genes but is able to recognize and destroy certain tumor and virally infected cells in a major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecule- and antibody-independent manner.

Related Terms
- T-cell receptor (TCR): https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13714
- lymphocyte: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13399
- major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecule-: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13434

Source
- PAC, 2012, 84, 1113. 'IUPAC glossary of terms used in immunotoxicology (IUPAC Recommendations 2012)' on page 1219 (https://doi.org/10.1351/PAC-REC-11-06-03)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13499/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13499/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13499/xml

Citation: Citation: 'natural killer cell' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.13499
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Accessed: 2026-05-10T16:16:25+00:00