Schattner A, Duggan D B
Am J Hematol. 1985 Apr;18(4):435-43. doi: 10.1002/ajh.2830180415.
Natural killer (NK) cells are non-B, non-T lymphoid cells of uncertain lineage that rapidly recognize and lyse a large variety of tumor or virus-infected cells, without the need for either prior sensitization or major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-dependent recognition. Though some essential problems in understanding NK cell function are still unsolved, considerable progress has been achieved in recent years following the identification of the characteristic large granular lymphocyte (LGL) morphology of NK cells and their purification, the study of their function at the single-cell level, and the cloning of mouse and human NK cell lines. Activated mainly by interferon (IFN), as well as important producers of IFN, NK cells appear to have a distinct role in immunoregulation in addition to their postulated major role in "immune surveillance," for which convincing in vivo data has accumulated. Future clinical applications may therefore include manipulations of the NK system through expansion and activation of patient's LGL or the use of cloned human NK cell lines.
自然杀伤（NK）细胞是谱系不明的非B、非T淋巴细胞，能迅速识别并裂解多种肿瘤细胞或病毒感染细胞，无需预先致敏或依赖主要组织相容性复合体（MHC）识别。尽管在理解NK细胞功能方面仍有一些基本问题尚未解决，但近年来随着NK细胞特征性大颗粒淋巴细胞（LGL）形态的识别及其纯化、单细胞水平功能研究以及小鼠和人类NK细胞系的克隆，已经取得了相当大的进展。NK细胞主要由干扰素（IFN）激活，同时也是IFN的重要产生者，除了在“免疫监视”中假定的主要作用外，NK细胞在免疫调节中似乎也有独特作用，目前已经积累了令人信服的体内数据。因此，未来的临床应用可能包括通过扩增和激活患者的LGL或使用克隆的人类NK细胞系来操纵NK系统。
