Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

natural killer cell

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.26 in modern English

Syllables: nat-u-ral killer -cell
IPA

23

Scrabble Score

17

Letters

4

Syllables

10

Unique Chars

Meaning

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.

Example Sentences

"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."
"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, Natural killer cell activity is currently an area of active interest in cellular immunology (Herberman 1981)."
"The effects of lead exposure of varying duration on natural killer cell and T-lymphocyte function were investigated in rats."

Etymology

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

Inflected Forms

natural killer cells (plural)

Phrases

cytotoxic T cell

Frequently Paired Words

cytotoxic T cell

Synonyms

large granular lymphocyte NK NK cell

Questions

What does natural killer cell mean?: Any cell that expresses cell surface receptors that deliver signals to either activate or inhibit a response as part of the innate immune system.
Where does natural killer cell come from?: The description "natural killer" refers to the fact that they do not require activation to kill cells missing MHC class I "self" markers.

How to pronounce natural killer cell

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